American Exceptionalism. How the Right is destroying it.

              Our numbering system uses Arabic Numerals. Algebra is an Arabic word, as is algorithm. 2/3 of the named stars have Arabic names. Why?

From 800 C.E. til around 1100 C.E. the Islamic Caliphate was centered in the great city of Baghdad. This city was the crossroads of civilization after the collapse of the classical Roman Empire and the decline of the Eastern Empire. It brought together China, Persia, North Africa and Europe in an intellectual stew.

The collapse of Rome left Europe in disarray. With the lack of traditional nation states far too much power was ceded to the Church. They controlled education. The tomes that were salvaged from Rome were transcribed by monks. In Europe the Catholic Church was the gatekeeper of education and existent knowledge for all practical purposes.

With their dogmatic views the conditions in Europe were not conducive to unfettered research.The major advancements in Europe were related to the construction of Cathedrals and other religious edifices. Architecture, engineering and related mathematics.

Baghdad however saw the mixing of ideas and cultures. The classical knowledge and ideas from the Greco-Roman era. Ideas and knowledge from India and China. Muslims, Jews and Christians mingled freely exchanging insights.

The result was an explosion of scientific knowledge and preservation of the earlier scientific gains threatened by the collapse of Rome.

Astronomy flourished hence the Arabic star names. Mathematics was expanded. Algebra and the adoption of the Arabic numerals.Those replaced the use of the cumbersome Roman numerals eventually in the West. The use of zero as a mathematical concept was refined.

Books from all over the world were translated into Arabic. Knowledge was saved, shared and preserved for the future.

Science, arts and literature flourished for around three hundred years then stopped.

Why?

The rise of Islamic fundamental thought where knowledge was seen as the work of evil put an end to the intellectual dominance of the Caliphate. It showed scientific thought and discovery can not exist in an atmosphere of fundamental rejection of human knowledge as evil and ungodly. This fundamentalism effectively killed progress and innovation in the Arab world. A thousand years later it still hasn't recovered. Who knows what advancements were sacrificed on the alter of a point of view that sees everything in religious terms.

Now we hear a lot about American Exceptionalism from conservatives. The irony is they may be killing what they are extolling.

American exceptionalism isn't a myth. The explosive emergence of The United States onto the world stage was fostered and fueled by intellectual freedom. A refusal to take "I can't understand this" as a limit to progress. Americans have always sought answers.

Freed from religious hegemony and the resulting intellectual shackles by the Enlightenment, America was born. The men who founded this great nation were steeped in the intellectual, philosophical and scientific revolutionary thought of their time. Secular Humanism was replacing Dogmatic Religion as the driving force in human advancement.

When faced by a problem in science answers were sought and the default position of "Known only to God" was rejected and a solution was found.

Americans took European ideas and made them distinctly ours. From the founding of this nation Americans rose to the front of the wave of modern science. We blazed the paths that severed our bonds to the Earth as we learned to fly. We took the British Industrial Revolution and showed the world what it could be.

Americans in the 19th and 20th Centuries took scientific advancement in stride seeing it as a birthright.
Science and technology made the United States the Arsenal Of Democracy during the Second World War. It enabled the defeat of the Nazis and the Japanese Empire in years rather than decades.

The American dominance in science is seen in the Nobel prizes accumulated. There are a lot of elements that have uniquely American names. We opened up the Solar System. Americans expanded the size and scope of the Universe. We've explored the building blocks of reality. Only Americans have walked on another celestial body.

Science gave us hope for the future. History taught us about our past. Intellectual freedom made us what we are today. Both disciplines were seen to be neutral as fact based education should be.
So why do modern conservatives feel that science and history is a la carte? Pick and choose what's true. One from column A and one from column B?

The only reason I can see that makes any sense is the unholy marriage between social conservatives and what once was fringe Evangelical churches. There has been a disturbing growth in the literalist, Fundamentalist, Evangelical Christian worldview.

Due to opportunistic political decisions made in the 70's, 80's and 90's the Christian Right and the willfully ignorant have gained positions of power. They control school boards. They are in State Legislatures and Congress. Think Tanks are pushing anti-science and history agendas. PAC's, Churches and other organizations back up these policies with money. There are people seen as so-called experts extolling these views in the media as rational positions. They are aided by cynical outlets promoting a reactionary agenda.
I realize many hold these positions as a matter of true belief. Zealots are extremely resistant to differing points of view. Many reject it as blasphemy.

Others hold these views as a bedrock political position and compromise is seen as weakness.
Many though have adopted these beliefs as simple political expediency. Simply taking money and support to hold power.

Combined, these movements are deadly to America's future.
Most of a persons core beliefs are formed in childhood. This is how America's future is threatened.
Since our manufacturing base has been decimated by shortsighted corporate and Government policies our economic future rests on technological advances and innovation. This is not possible without a scientifically literate population. Policies that are being adopted preclude that future.

How?

It's a cascading effect. When a cornerstone of scientific thought is denied, other scientific truths must also be denied.

The two most reviled scientific principles are Climate Change and evolution.

Evolution. Where to start?

Intelligent design is being touted as a legitimate scientific alternative. This is simply creationism dressed up in a gown and mortarboard to avoid church/state issues.

First off, Intelligent Design does not hold up to the basic scientific process.

The rap against evolution is it's "only" a theory. Well, so is gravity and I don't see them jumping off tall buildings to test it. The basic premise of Intelligent Design is not measurable in a lab or the field like the well
tested theory of Evolution.

Evolution is the bedrock of modern biology and medicine. You want to see evolution? Antibiotic resistant bacteria.

Intelligent Design does not explain our sharing a majority of our genome with the great apes. It also doesn't explain shared genes with lifeforms that aren't mammals.As a scientific position Intelligent Design is a nice fairy tale.

There is a school of thought in Creationism that because something wasn't witnessed it didn't happen. This applies to evolution and the creation of the Universe. That is as ludicrous as it sounds.

Creationism also has spawned the "Young Earth" movement. This embraces the idea Earth and the Universe is only 6,000 years old. This rejects multiple sciences.

Astronomy has determined the age of the universe by measuring the Doppler shift in light from distant objects.This is applied physics. This is explained by young earthers like this. We know the speed of light here. Since we haven't visited other stars to measure we don't know the speed of light for that star. Thus, it invalidates the idea the Universe is around 15 billion years old. A variation on if you did not witness it it didn't happen.

Geology is rejected along the same lines when pegging the Earth's age as 4.5 billion years old. We can't know for sure decay rates have always been constant.
Since we didn't witness how fossils are made we can't know their age. Thus Adam rode a Dinosaur like Alley Oop.

So, basically all science and history is rejected if it contradicts the idea that anything is more than six thousand years old. The Bible as text book.

If all this accumulated scientific knowledge is flawed the technology the world runs on couldn't exist.
As this view spreads into our educational system America will slide into irrelevancy. Discovery and innovation will move to more enlightened environments. As will the intellectually curious.Say good bye to a proud tradition of discovery.

The right is so worried about creeping Sharia Law(which doesn't exist) they are blind to their own imposition of religious law here. One is reviled. One is revered.

Without innovation we are doomed as a civilized nation. Teaching Creationism is tantamount to intellectual child abuse.

We are about to recreate the fall of the Caliphate into superstition and divine law.

To survive we must reclaim American thought from extremists that wish to enforce Bronze Age views as all that's needed. There are those in power who call science lies from the pits of Hell. We need to reestablish the founders faith in rationalism or just hand off our future to whomever will take it.

If we fail, this great experiment is a failure.

We can't allow that.

The future is now. We need to save it.

Let's base 21st Century Education on a Roman Era Text.That'll work.

               Some days I feel so old before my time.

When I went to school science was celebrated. We had put humans on the Moon. Vaccines were on the way to making deadly diseases a thing of the past.Our understanding of the Universe and our place in it was expanding. New ideas were becoming reality. Computer science was evolving. We were learning our origins. Amazing discoveries and inventions were everywhere.

Science was respected. Research was funded. Actual science was taught in schools. We led the world in education. We led the world in scientific innovation.

History was history. It was taught. The teachers used the current research. They felt no pressure to make things up to serve a political and religious agenda.

Teachers were respected and not branded as union thugs bent on indoctrination.

That was then. This is now.

Ohio. Again.

Since 2010 the reactionary Republicans who seized power in Ohio have been busy.Union busting, voter suppression, charter schools and abortion. With the cascading crazy it is easy to miss something. I was appalled earlier when I discovered Ohio passed a law requiring the teaching of the "Original Founding Documents". Here we go.

The law requires the teaching of the original texts of The Declaration Of Independence, The Northwest Ordinance, The US and State Constitutions.

This legislation will highlight those documents of freedom and enumerated rights so that the next generation can carry the torch of liberty that these documents represent." This was from Chris Long, the head of the Ohio Christian Coalition.

Part of the law requires supplemental readings to place the documents in their historical context. If this material is actually written by accredited, mainstream historians, they may not like the results.

The context is the Enlightenment and the rise of rationalism. The rise of secular humanism. The rejection of religion as basis for law and as a test to hold office. The prohibition of the establishment of a State Religion.
I am going to try to find some of these readings. There is no way to factually ignore these influences on the well educated men who founded this nation.

The Ohio Christian Coalition I feel sees this as a chance to push the myth America was founded as a "Christian" nation, otherwise they would not be on board with praise.
State Representative John Adams (R-Sidney) said of the law, "If the founding fathers documents would be adhered to and taught. we wouldn't be in the particular situation we're in at the Federal level with the expansion of government."

That, to me, sounds like the desire to teach history in a way that conforms to a rigid ideological view not supported by current accepted norms. It appears, that like in medicine, election to the Ohio Legislature makes you a prominent scholar. Thus you may over ride scholarship with indoctrination and a political agenda.

Many saw this as a back door to teaching Christian revisionist history.
So the Springboro Ohio School Board decided to offer a continuing education course devised by David Barton. A person with no history credentials and the author of a book on Jefferson pulled due to massive errors.

The course was to be taught by volunteers and promoted Barton's unfounded views of America as a Christian theocracy. Following outcry it was canceled. This of course raised the hackles of the reactionary right in Southwestern Ohio a bastion of right wing crazy.

Springboro also tried to add creationism to it's science teaching. That too was shelved following outcry. The school board is again looking at it.

Simply put we can not survive as a nation if we permit teaching to be pushed into presenting ignorant beliefs to be taught as fact. Knowledge is not ala carte. Facts are facts and it doesn't matter that you disagree.
If we are to compete in this world we can't allow science be defined by religious zealots who don't believe in it. The purpose of history is to teach us who we are and why we are.

Ohio wants to out crazy Texas. We are getting there.

THE GOP: So much crazy, so little time.

                With the debate over a strike on Syria heating up, we see our friends in the Republican Party, as usual, taking their responsibilities seriously. Fox News had former Field Marshall Von Rumsfeld on waxing eloquent after his brilliant managing of the invasion of Iraq and our welcome as liberators. His magnificent handling of the conflict makes his input on Syria invaluable.
Representative Joe Wilson(R-SC)usual reasoned, insightful questioning of Secretary of State John Kerry was a revelation.
Speaking of revelation, the eerie resemblance of current happenings to the "End Times" needs more exposure and deep, serious discussion since it is indisputable fact.
The actions of the Republican officeholders and supporters gives such hope to the rest of the world that we will behave as they have come to expect.

Former Sec Def Rumsfeld went on Fox and Friends to share his insights on how to run a successful military operation in the Mideast. The astute trio of hosts tossed softball questions to him to slam the President.
Donald Rumsfeld did praise Secretary of Defense Kerry for a forceful, passionate presentation to the Senate Committee. He then cited American support for the clear policies of the Bush Administration. He slammed President Obama for playing Golf not mentioning the guy that threw him under the bus spent most of his tenure as POTUS on vacation. He said the GOP version of Beetlejuice, Benghazi. He called the President weak and indecisive.
The blonde guy Steve Douchey noted that Senator Obama and Senator Biden opposed the Iraq war while The President is being supported by the GOP in Syria. Douchey's grasp of nuance never ceases to amaze me. The Spokes-model chimed in teeing up shots at the POTUS for Von Rumsfeld. Kilmeade added his usual inane questions and comments undercutting President Obama. All in all it was an average Fox News hatchet job masquerading as hard hitting journalism. It had the depth of a saucer of milk and was as classy as bringing a hooker to your Mother's funeral.

The Honorable Joe Wilson of South Carolina. Still a piece of work.
During the House Committee questioning he postulated the President was using Syria as a sequel to "Wag The Dog".  Wilson noted there was a gas attack in April. So, he wondered did the President wait till now to divert attention from the Administration's many scandals. Such as the NSA, IRS, the failure of Obamacare enforcement, the White House drafted sequestration and the upcoming Debt Limit debate. Kerry, rather than call Wilson a raving, meth snorting gas bag, answered the query about April and ignored the batshit crazy part. John Kerry, as always is a classy guy. Wilson, not so much.

For what seems like forever the Evangelical end of timers have drawn on the similarities to the Middle East today and 2000 year old prophecies concerning the war that triggers The Second Coming will be fought there. They have been preaching fire and brimstone sermons, raising mountains of cash, hammering this view home for decades. With the drumbeat for war with Iran pounding last year in the GOP Primaries it resurfaced with a vengeance again. Now with Syria, it is being treated by some in public life as viable historical and current insight concerning the region.
Not being a member of the faith based community, I prefer the reality based community,hus when someone mentions Isaiah:17 I gaze at them with a blank stare.
That's when I am told about "The Burden Of Damascus". To which I reply, huh?
It seems this is a prophecy penned a couple thousand years ago. So of course I must take it seriously since all the other prophecies have proved so accurate. So what is it and why would any sane person not hallucinating their ass off even care?
OK. A Middle Eastern war will leave Damascus, Syria's ancient capital city, destroyed. The result will be a move closer to the conflagration that will bring the Second Coming. Naturally this confluence of unrelated happenings have the Televangelists and the end of the world is yesterday fans buzzing. They may also be stocking up on canned goods and burning porn to DVD.
It seems the destruction of Damascus is a precursor to the very last war. The expected US action may be the match to set off said war.
There is an author named Joel Rosenberg who as written a series of books dealing with the end of the world as postulated by Revelations. Somehow they wound up on the NYT Best Seller List. Fine. At least it's sold as fiction so no one will mistake him for an expert on nukes or the Middle East or anything.
When he appeared on Fox, Rosenberg was introduced an expert on nuclear policy and a modern day Nostradamus. He has appeared on Rick Sanatorum's radio show. Rick also penned a blurb on one of Rosenberg's books. He has also met with Gov. Rick Perry and Rep. Louis Gohmert in Austin. Gohmert presented a copy of one of Rosenberg's books to the Israeli PM.
With a Congress full of Biblical literalists, this may cause issues as we try to find any kind of sensible solution to the Syria issue.
These guy are expecting Iran and Russia to team up to strike Israel. This will set up the final showdown at Megiddio and Armageddon.
It is reassuring their worldview is shaped by a Roman era text that has absolutely no relevance to today's pressing Geo-Political issues. However, our weapons are based on science, not magic, so will we get our asses handed to us when Obama the Anti-Christ leads his Gay/Lesbian/ Secular/ fornicating army into battle on the Megiddo plain.
What's next, I wonder.
Where's the popcorn and pass that peyote tea.

GOP Domestic Policy: Brinksmanship, extortion and ignorance

                   Speaker Of The House John Boehner (R-OH) is in a quandary. His Caucus seems to be beyond his control. At times it resembles herding cats.
The Republican House Caucus has a plethora of avowed Tea Party aligned members and those pushed to the extreme right by fear of a primary challenge. Many are Freshman or on their second term having been elected in the weird frenzy of 2010. So, many are inexperienced in the way politics and governing actually works. They are also proud of that.
These Republicans came to office after vowing to burn down the House if necessary to undo the socialism and secularism that has in their view ruined America. Compromise, the lifeblood of American politics, is surrender. Everything seems to be a test of ideological purity.
Speaker Boehner, who stumbled into the position after Hastert left the House, seems uniquely ill suited to reign in these maverick members.
The apparent weakness may be that he has a Caucus that rejects politics as usual. Previous Speakers had a caucus that actually attempted to accomplish something. This has been the least effective Congress in history. The Speaker has said success should be measured by how much they repeal not what they pass. By that metric they are an abysmal failure.
Republican policy has been extreme to say the least. They annually pass a budget that has zero chance of clearing the Senate. They have, to date, passed a bill repealing The Affordable Care Act forty times. They have done this knowing it would not even hit the Senate floor and if by some miracle it passed the Senate would be vetoed in a heartbeat. This can only be simple political posturing. These votes are cited at home as proof of their conservative bonafides. The evil Washington Establishment is thwarting the will of the people.
The conservative movement seems to have devolved to the point any theory or conspiracy is treated as a serious issue. Statements that would have sent previous politicians home in ridiculed humiliation are now commonplace. It seems the more ignorant, xenophobic, sexist, racist and absurd the better. And this Speaker allows it.
Rep. Michele Bachman and others send a letter to assorted Federal Departments like the DOJ, Department Of State and Homeland Security, among others, demanding an investigation of deep infiltration by the Muslim Brotherhood. This was reminiscent of what Senator Joe McCarthy used to do. They did this with no repercussions from the Speaker. Used to be if a Member embarrassed the House or Party they could expect to be disciplined. Boehner seems loathe to exert any authority based on fear of repercussions. So, they all say anything they want no matter how ill conceived.
We are seeing what unbridled House Members will do or say. I admit at times I find it amusing anyone could be in a position of responsibility and say or even think some of these things. Then I remember these people are in power and cringe.
There are members of The House Science Committee that basically don't believe in science. One decried Evolution and the belief the Earth is over four billion years old, "Lies from the pits of Hell". Others feel climate change is a liberal conspiracy to get grant money and is scientific fascism.
They also are politicizing the peer review grant awarding process by wanting to make sure no money wasting grants are funded. One area they deemed worthless was Social Sciences.
They are ignoring how science actually works by putting a cost/benefit slant on research from the onset.  This is what happens when people who are hostile to science are put in charge of funding research. Had they been in power there would have been no funding for research into things like lasers, robotics, chip design, archeology, climate, biology and a myriad of other discoveries. Luddites on the Bridge of the Enterprise.
It seems ignorance is now considered a career path and is worn like a badge of honor. They are going after women's reproductive rights(denying basic biology as they do it) equal rights for LBGT, voting rights and the biggies. Social Security and Medicare. They are taking the entire social safety net along for the ride.
The goal seems to be who can make the deepest, most draconian cuts.
Unemployment compensation causes unemployment so cut it. After all it is just a paid vacation and all these lazy slackers are partying their asses off on that big money.
SNAP is used to buy drugs and high priced food poor working stiffs can't afford.
Women have more babies just to get more benifits and not work. So, let's cut off contraception. That'll do it. Poor women having babies and not working is one reason for the decline of America. Get a job.
Abortion is a direct challenge to the will of God. Make these women stay home and have babies. Women working and not being stay at home mothers is one reason for the decline of America.
Social Security is a ponzi scheme. It needs cut because we can't afford it.
Medicare creates dependency. Why should there be government run healthcare. That's socialism.
The list goes on and on. Now the big idea is defunding the ACA.
Speaker Boehner received a letter from eighty members of his caucus demanding no funding for it in the continuing budget resolution. Basically, shut down the Government to stop Obamacare. They are being egged on by presidential hopefuls and others in the Senate. Also conservative groups that donate lots of money to campaigns and Sarah Palin are chiming in. Expect any votes not to defund to be used as a reason for primary challenges. Again, any compromise is surrender.
The Speaker and other leaders in the not quite batshit crazy wing of the party see this as a mistake.This is one time the are right. The voices are strident though. The zealots see this as a last stand. They may mutiny and the Speaker will be helpless to deal with it without relying on Democratic House Members.
Boehner is trying to get them on board to forget this extremely bad idea. He is going with a promise of a whale of a battle over raising the debt limit to mollify them.
So, shutting down the government over the ACA is a bad idea in a chamber that has cast forty meaningless repeals of the law. It may be 50/50 he can pull that off.
However tanking the economy, crashing a fragile recovery, ruining the credit of the United States with a default is a wonderful idea.
Boehner is going back to the well again in his strategy to gut the social safety net and also cut programs the not rich benefit from. He feels that the House version of negotiation which is give us everything we want or we'll wreck the Nation is viable. President Obama has already said he will not negotiate to have the House do their Constitutionally mandated job. protect the full faith and credit of The United States Of America.
The Republicans feel however if push comes to shove the Dems will fold. Or, if they stand firm and we default America will blame the President for not giving in to blatant extortion. Somehow they have developed the view if they act like Tony Soprano they will be well liked and seen as heroes. They will take us to the brink and beyond to get their venal view of spending to happen.
The Caucus may take Boehner off the cliff over defunding the ACA and seem gleeful as they shred what's left in the Debt Limit fight. Seems reasonable to me.
Good luck with this plan, Mr. Speaker.
The Senate was devised as a more temperate counterbalance to the House. It's purpose is to slow things down. To basically tamp down a House led plunge off a cliff. Unfortunately this time several of the cliff divers are in the Senate.
Right now three possible GOP Presidential contenders are the ringleaders of a glorious last stand to stop the ACA by defunding it. The plan is defund ACA or shut down the Federal Government. There is enough support for this bit of extortion to give the Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
(R-KY) heartburn.
Mitch has a Tea Party challenger in the Primary. He also has a formidable Democratic opponent ready to go after him in the general election. McConnell is already catching heat for not being on board for a defund based hostage crisis. He's being painted by the rabid right as a sell out. Not a strong enough foe to the liberal, socialist, UN backed, secular attack on God and Country.
So, with an insurrection at home and a high profile possible mutiny in his caucus he is trying to walk a thin line between madness and absurdity.
Senator Ted Cruz(R-TX) has already called those not on board the Surrender Caucus. Conservative groups are cranking up the pressure to force this doomed gesture into being. The Republican Senators are looking at attacks by well funded groups that can make their political life dangerous.
Senators Cruz, Paul, Rubio and Lee are willing to grind America to a halt to throw their temper tantrum. They see this as the last chance to stop the law from going into effect. The opponents believe the President will sign legislation crushing a major accomplishment before it takes effect. These Senators are quite comfortable with extortion.
With the arcane rules of the Senate they may be able to delay action well past the deadline. They are pushing the extreme members of the House to sign on and defund or shut down the Federal Government.  Patriots all.
This backfired in the 90's when they did this to President Clinton. They expect a different result this time. One must remember though you can't reason with zealots.
This is another example of Republicans refusing to accept election results they don't like. Some are trying to figure out how to impeach the President, which worked out so well for them the last time.
Here we go.
Two cliffs. Two chances to be responsible and take care of a couple bookkeeping issues with no muss, no fuss. No. Let's turn it into the Alamo instead. Why be reasonable when you can act like Sonny Corleone and put a horse's head in America's bed. Go to the mattresses. After all this is why you ran, right?

Why I stand with women.

             I've been asked by men I know who have occasionally read these posts or talked with me. They usually ask a question. Why do you say what you say about the so-called war on women? "Are you gay, one of the girl's?" I've been asked. No, not that it matters. "Are you doing this just to get laid?" No, I'm not doing this to get laid.

I am doing this because I believe equal means equal.

I do this because I have a daughter.

She is a beautiful, brilliant, nineteen year old Sophomore at a well respected, small Liberal Arts College in Ohio.

When she finishes her education I want her to be able to do whatever she wants. And to be paid the same as a man with equal credentials and talent.

I want her to have full and equal access to the justice system if the unthinkable happens.

I want her to have full and equal access to the healthcare system without conservative religious views codified as law to prevent that. Having a uterus is not a pre-existing condition any more than having testicles is.

I want her vote to be counted and not discarded because she's a student.

I want her to live in a nation where she is not a second class citizen, condemned to a state of socio-economic slavery simply because of gender.

I want her to live in a Nation where a Violence Against Women Act is not used as a political football and is unnecessary.

All I want is a Country where she is a citizen first and a woman, second.

Apparently this is too much to ask.

Ninety-three years ago this week the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified. That finally gave women the right to vote.

During those years the fight for women's rights has made significant progress. We have a long road to travel yet but we were always moving in the right direction. I knew this would be a better world for my little girl.

It seems I may have been too hopeful and naive.

Both of us are in Ohio. Not a woman friendly State anymore.

Ohio, through most of it's history was a powerful political State. It was a hotbed of the Abolition movement. Major lines of the Underground Railroad went through the State. 

Many of the stations are still standing as private homes. The owners are proud to point out the history of their house and the hiding places for escaped slaves to visitors. 

Lincoln carried Ohio twice.

During the Civil War Ohio produced more troops per capita than any other State in the Union. Many of the Generals were Ohioans also. Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Harrison, Hooker and Custer to name a few.

Ohio continued as a political powerhouse. Senator Sherman of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act was a progressive Senator from Ohio.

During the Progressive era Ohio helped those progressive laws pass in the House and Senate.

Ohio produced six Presidents following the Union victory. Two of them were assassinated.

What I am trying to show is Ohio has a tradition of being a moderate, yet powerful force in American politics. A defender of liberty. Sadly in the last decade that has changed.

Now Ohio is a leader of a different kind. The reactionary Republicans that have seized the State are determined to support and champion the rejection of history, science and women as an equal citizen.

In 2011 the lizard brained psychopaths in the Ohio House passed the Heartbeat Bill. They did this in the center ring of the National Political Circus. 

These venal, theocratic rat bastards, in the pocket of the Tea Party and the Westboro Baptist wing of the Party gave us a bill banning abortion when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, About six weeks, pror to most women even knowing they are pregnant.

In committee, a woman undergoing an ultrasound so her fetus could testify made a joke that a transvaginal probe would work better. The compassionate men on the committee chuckled over that witty bon mot.

The Ohio Senate, after having their asses handed to them by the people of Ohio on Union Busting, buried the heartbeat bill.

The Republicans in 2011 came up with gerrymandered political districts.They appeared to be drawn by Strom Thurmond on acid. So even as Mitt Romney's Presidential dreams were gutted like a trout in Ohio, a more rightwing batshit crazy Legislature was elected.

Thus in their wisdom the Republican Legislators in the Great State of Ohio, after seeing Ohio reject the GOP social stances in the Presidential election, acted. 

With clear logic they came to the conclusion the most pressing issue facing the State was abortion. So, they went after women. They acted with the glee of frat boys spiking drinks at a party.

In order to avoid a ballot repeal by the sane, they put their demented views into the Budget. 

As believers of input from the public they are supposed to represent, these regs were slipped into the budget at the last minute to avoid public hearings. No point turning over a rock to expose these creepy  slimy slugs to the light of day.

They doubled the waiting period to forty-eight hours. An ultrasound must be performed with a voice over of what's going on. 

A woman must be told the chances of carrying the child to term. Healthy or not.

Since being a member of Ohio's Legislature automatically makes you a de facto OB/GYN they redefined pregnancy. It now begins at conception. After all what does the AMA know?

There is a script healthcare providers have to read that links abortion to increased chances of breast cancer. It doesn't matter the American Cancer Society says there's no correlation. A bunch of liberals. 

Fetal pain, something that has never been established as fact must be mentioned as if it's an accepted medical concept. Any MD that doesn't lie to his patient can be found guilty of a felony and fined $1,000,000.(not a typo)

The redefinition of pregnancy makes some forms of birth control abortion agents . So to get the pill, an IUD or Plan B, you get the lecture, ultrasound and waiting period.

The GOP says this is for the health and safety of women. That would be why any women's healthcare clinic that even mentions abortion as an option goes to the end of the line for funding, including rape crisis centers. A child of rape is a gift from God, you know.
 

This puts the anti-abortion fronts known as pregnancy crisis centers to the fore. They routinely lie to women about the effects of abortion. 

In other states they've been caught saying abortion created antibodies that will induce miscarriages in future pregnancies. 

They've tried to link abortion to mental health issues, falsely. 

They say the pill causes abortions, again contradicting the AMA. 

Also, condoms are naturally porous so they don't work. 

The only  way acceptable way to avoid pregnancy is the ole rhythm method or abstinence.

The sole reason for these regulations undoing decades of progress is to force women to give birth. They want to humiliate unmarried women who have sex. Basically codifying slut shaming.

Since women are wilful, sinful creatures they need to be shown the sonograms. Obviously they don't realize that is a baby, not an undeveloped clump of cells.

We all know they blithely seek abortion as an easy, convenient form of birth control. They are too stupid and hormone addled to make these decisions anyway. After all they refuse to accept the consequences of their sinful, wanton desire to have sex outside of marriage.

The very best way to keep these feminazis out of public life is to control their reproductive options. 

Because of the hippies and commies in the Sixties, women have decided they should no longer be subservient to men. They have this absurdist notion they are as intelligent as and equal to men. The girls think they deserve equal pay also.

The Nineteenth Amendment was a mistake. Ask Ann Coulter.

The best way to remove these pesky women from business and politics is let's keep them pregnant through most of their reproductive years. If they can't plan their life they have to settle for women's work. They'll stop taking jobs from men. We'll quit wasting money and time educating them. After all how much education does a walking life support system for a fetus actually need? 

The girls need to go back to their God ordained role in the family. An incubator and child rearer. They need to be obedient to their husband.

To these views being passed off as helping women I say, are you fucking crazy? This is the Twenty-First Century for Christ's sake. We can not treat women like we are still a bronze age nomadic tribe.

I respect women as the individuals they are.

I respect women as equal in all ways before the law and in society.

I want my Daughter to live a long fulfilling life seeking her happiness, not some preacher's view of that.

I do this for my daughter's better tomorrow.
Who do you do it for??

Again the Ohio Gop is ready to ban Abortion in a heartbeat

                  Same old story. The same old song and dance.
In the last legislative Session the Ohio House of Representatives decided a major problem that faced the once moderate State of Ohio was Abortion. So they acted.
After passing their version of Senate Bill 5, gutting Public Sector Union rights and passing a draconian budget, they turned their attention to women. As attention was directed at trying to stop the union busting bill in the Senate the House went to work.
In 2010 the GOP gained control of both Ohio Houses. As I remember the election cycle in '10 was the GOP slamming Democrats for losing jobs in Ohio during the worst economic meltdown since the Great Depression. The litany was job,jobs, jobs, mirroring the National Party's strategy to retake the US House of Representatives.  If abortion was mentioned I don't recall it being a front and center promise by the Republicans.
Republican Rep Danny Bubp cited the 2010 Election as a vote for change which the Caucus sees as a green light to go after abortion rights in Ohio. Thus the Heartbeat Bill was introduced. The bill's primary purpose was to ban abortion after the detection of a fetal heartbeat. That occurs at about six to seven weeks, before most women even know they are pregnant.
The bill was written as a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade which permits abortion, as a woman's right, until fetal viability outside the womb, commonly seen as 24 weeks. Everyone knew the bill would not stand judicial scrutiny as to its constitutionality. Speaker of the Ohio House Bachelder   even said they were writing bills for the courts. After slashing the Ohio Budget to the bone saying education, safety nets and safety services were unaffordable at pre-2011 levels an expensive court fight was reasonable. Because, you know......FREEDOM.
The bill garnered forty-eight Republican co-sponsors. It contained no provision for rape, incest or the mental health of the mother. Janet Folger Porter the former legislative Director for Ohio Right To LIfe called the bill the most "protective" in the nation. Opponents called it the most restrictive.
This bill was called unconstitutional by Ohio Right To Life and they urged the House not to pass it. They saw no point in a protracted, expensive court fight on a loser of a law. They were also concerned a loss on this fight could roll back the restrictions Ohio had passed and were planning.They were ignored as the House opened a mortifying example of political theater. Ohio was about to take center stage in the National theater of the absurd.
In committee the GOP had fetal testimony via ultrasound to have the heartbeat heard and the fetus seen on a big screen. One woman who was nine weeks along, when they had trouble finding a heartbeat quipped if a vaginal probe was used there'd be no problem. This witty comment drew chuckles from the men on the committee. A classy bunch, these Republicans.
An attorney said many women who are raped want to carry that child to term as a form of victory over their rapist. This elicited gasps from women in the audience. Surprising since who knows how a woman feels about rape better than a man. He also mentioned had Romeo been able to detect Juliet's heartbeat he wouldn't have committed suicide and would have saved Juliet from that fate as well. When your reasons to push a bill are mostly fictional you may as well cite a play.
The only comment Ohio Governor John Kasich had was the bill may not be a good for attracting new businesses to Ohio.
The Heartbeat bill hearings and vote were the caliope for the political circus that was Ohio during 2011. It passed along a party line vote and went to the Senate. The Ohio GOP was in the process of being bitch slapped by voters over the Union busting bill and The Senate Majority Leader quashed the abortion bill in the Senate. It never made it out of committee before the session ended in 2012.
Since the Republicans controlled all the Statewide offices and both Houses of the Legislature they gerrymandered the State to within an inch of it's life. The result was a larger, veto proof, more extreme GOP Legislative majority.
When the new Legislative session began Ohio was under the gun for a new biennial budget. They prohibited Medicaid expansion. Also because it is an important budgetary issue, they passed extremely restrictive abortion regulations and redefined pregnancy in the budget. For good measure let's slide these provisions in at the last minute to prevent public hearings.
Many observers felt since these regulations were so restrictive Governor Kasich would use the line item veto to remove them. He got the budget on Friday afternoon. Over the weekend he reminded everyone within earshot of his pro life credentials. Every chance he got and the media gave him numerous chances. On Monday, surrounded by only men, he declined to veto those measures.
This was celebrated as a victory by the pro lifers. They were giddy with self righteous joy.
At this time Texas was hogging the headlines with their own abortion extravaganza so Ohio didn't receive the outrage it should have. Once more this is portrayed as a Southern attitude as Ohio tries to out crazy Texas. Which they have since Texas hasn't redefined the definition of when pregnancy starts. Yet. The North has proved this isn't a regional issue. It is a Republican Priority to appease the base.
Since to the Ohio GOP the provisions of the budget didn't restrict abortion enough they decided to revisit the issue. The Heartbeat Bill is on a comeback tour.
The anti-abortion group Faith2Action sponsored the presser to announce the CPR on the Heartbeat Bill. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar,along with seventeen of their nineteen children, attended and endorsed the bill. The circus is putting the big top back up.
One should expect the absurdities once more as the Republicans posture and proclaim their pro life credentials prior to the 2014 elections. Red meat galore will be thrown around the State House. Political theater masquerading as thoughtful debate in committee. After all being a Republican officeholder in Ohio make you a de facto OB/GYN and qualified to direct MD's in the proper, moral way to practice medicine.
Once more into the breech.
Our voices need to be raised.
The bill will pass the House. It may pass the Senate. I believe Kasich, as he positions himself for a run at the White House will sign it. There is no better way to prove you are a champion of marginalizing women than signing a bill that won't survive a court test. You tried but those activist judges thwarted the will of Ohioans.
We need to yell, NO! Reasonable Buckeyes need to make this an issue. Force the GOP to proudly show how they feel about women in this State.
We need to get out the vote and try to overcome the gerrymandered districts and take back the State from the Taliban.
Make it loud.
Make it local.
Make it Statewide.
Make it National.
Make Kasich a one term Governor.
Stop his Presidential hopes here and now.
JUST SAY NO.

Ted Cruz: A basket full of crazy. Bless his heart.

                 I am sorely conflicted about Texas.
Some things I love about Tejas.
Friendly people abound.Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, ZZ Top and the music in general. South By Southwest is on my bucket list. Food, You know, texmex and BBQ. Mmmm. Their love of imbibing. Is Pearl still around? Texans also know how to party. The great State of Texas is also known to have a lot of stunningly beautiful women.
I've been to Texas and enjoyed myself immensely.
Now the flip side of the coin.
The politicians who garner national attention by saying stunningly stupid shit. Their extremist views on women, minorities and America in general. This isn't a recent development. Unfortunately, at the time, many in America thought if John Kennedy were to be assassinated, it would be in Texas.
For decades Texas was an extreme outlier in American politics. (has LBJ been disowned by Texas yet?) There were a lot of right wing wackos with money railing about commies under the bed, civil rights and not nuking the Ruskies or Chinese. Or both. The Hunts come to mind.
So Texas since Nixon unleashed the covertly racist, reactionary Republican "Southern Strategy"is not a surprise.
That election strategy has unleashed the worst of racial fears and attitudes, not just across the South, but throughout The United States as well.
Where Texas was once a political outlier they are now a leader of extremism. States like Ohio are in a competition to see who can out Texas, Texas.
Rick Perry embarrassed Texas throughout his 2012 run at the White House. As Governor he has drawn amazed disbelief of sane people for his policies. The man's explanations of said policies are confusing at best. He has raised a lot of money for Democrats nationally.
I could list the extreme Texan policies and politicians but I don't have days to devote to it. So, as an example, let's talk about Senator Ted Cruz.
Oh dear God, where to start?
Birthers seem to be OK with Ted Cruz. A white man, born in Canada. Sure, his mother was an American citizen. His father? A Cuban who fought with Castro. A Cuban who didn't bother to become an American citizen until less than a decade ago. Senator Cruz discovered recently he may have dual citizenship. Ooops. He renounced it this week. Just in case anyone thought he may be a Canadian Manchurian Candidate. He needed to reassure Texans he wasn't going to impose Hockey, Curling, Canadian Football, Gay Marriage and universal health care on them.
Obviously this man is eligible to run for President, unlike Our current President. That mixed race man, born in Hawaii to a mother who was an American citizen is blatantly ineligible.
After winning an expensive, even by Texas standards, primary runoff, Cruz has been anointed the intellectual leader of the Tea Party. I would say that is a dubious distinction. Somehow intellectual and Tea Party seems a contradiction in terms. Just sayin'. Though by all accounts he is said to be a very intelligent man. Princeton . Harvard Law. Like the President. Oops, again.
As a well educated attorney he seems to hold Constitutional beliefs not supported by precedent or Judicial cannon. Another case of a conservative saying I am right though everybody else and American history is wrong.  I wonder about his feelings on Marbury v. Madison?
As a matter of policy Senator Cruz(R-TX)has decided not to play nice with the Senate Republican Caucus.The Freshman Senator has broken ranks with the party repeatedly. He has declined to endorse Minority leader McConnell in his Primary in Kentucky. This could cause Senator Cruz problems should McConnell be reelected to the Senate and as Minority Leader in the next Senate. Or, God Forbid, Majority Leader.
Ted has staked out a position that defunding the ACA should be the Republican Party's stand in upcoming Continuing Funding Resolution talks. He says fund everything except the ACA. Pick a fight over this with the Democrats and the President. Republican leadership in both Houses see this as a loser. Shutting down the Federal Government didn't workout so well the last time.
Cruz has been ripped by other Republicans for pushing a shutdown to build his mailing lists and support for a 2016 run at the Presidency. His response? Calling the Senate Republicans the Surrender Caucus. A good idea to alienate people whose support you may need if you do run for POTUS.
Senator Cruz opposes abortion rights. He voted no on The Violence Against Women Act. He has said unemployment Compensation creates unemployment. Marriage Equality will end free speech. Funding birth control is an assault on our liberties.Ted felt the Newtown families were props as he opposed background checks.
A Harvard Law educated Attorney said that the only reason the President hasn't been impeached is a Democratic controlled Senate. Shh. Ignore there is no impeachable offense. He truly thinks that the public will give the Republicans a pass on shutting down the government over the ACA if Dems don't cave.
All in all, even for Tejas, this man is a special kind of crazy. He masks it well. He tries to appear reasonable as he says something beyond the pale.
With Cruz, Paul and the usual suspects lining up for a '16 run, they will make the '12 field look reasonable and thoughtful. It seems the GOP has bought the myth that had they run someone far right the would have beat a left/center Democrat.
Good luck with that idea. Go for it.

You can't fix stupid.

          I've been known to sit back and relax at times. I'll fire up the blu-ray and watch a whole season of a favorite show. Fringe. SG-1. Doctor Who. Sometimes I do it with movies. A bit of Film Noir. The Duke. Star Trek and numerous others. A wonderful way to enjoy the small pleasures of life.
Then I will turn on the news or hit a news site on the web. Perhaps a link on Twitter. My calm is then seriously damaged.
All it takes is hearing the latest GOP attack on voting or women or any other insanity du jour.
Ron White is right. You can't fix stupid.
What I try to do is decide how much is stupid, how much is simple willful ignorance and how much is planned political partisanship. A chance to gain power through intimidation and fear. Unfortunately I think it's all of the above.
There are extremist evangelicals who have won seats in Congress, Statehouses and Legislatures. There have been Tea Party members elected with them. So, we have reactionary ideologues in power. Single issue zealots. People who would burn down the house rather than fix a leaky pipe. People who believe women are the reason for the so-called destruction of the traditional family. People who believe their version of God needs to be inserted into American life by law. Some because they dislike or disagree with history and feel it didn't happen that way. It is some kind of conspiracy to hide the truth.
There are others who reject science on religious grounds. They feel they have a right to impose their vision on everyone.
So let's take a trip through their alternate reality.
Since the Eighties we have seen an unprecedented rise of a strain of conservatism that would appall William Buckley and Barry Goldwater. The intellectual conservatives that founded the American Conservative movement knew that the extreme fringe were antithetical to the American values
Buckley and others were espousing. Thus the Ku Klux Klan, The John Birch Society and the American Nazi party were pushed out and banished from mainstream conservatism.
As the thoughtful leaders of the movement died they were replaced by men without the intellectual discipline needed to maintain the right's integrity as a viable, sane political power. So without an ideological standard the movement started to splinter into assorted factions. Some stayed true to the Buckley/Goldwater view of America. Others wandered off into the weeds of single issue or uninformed, reactionary views of what America should be.
These splinter groups mostly fell into two categories.
1) Reactionary evangelicals. Those who believe The United States was founded as a Christian Theocracy favored by God to spread our way of life.
2) Single issue and extremist reactionary political ideologues.
Down the rabbit hole we go.
Both are the result of Nixon's play to the so-called "Silent Majority" in the 1968 election. It was a blatant attempt to woo Southern voters angry about the Civil Rights Act. By claiming the mantle of "traditional American" values they fostered an us versus them mentality. Us being white men and them being everybody else. George Wallace went after the same voter and was far less subtle in his appeal to racism and the anti youth/Peace movement sentiment.
After Lyndon Johnson decided not to run there was a bloody Democratic Primary fight between Bobby Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey and Eugene McCarthy.
In April of 1968 Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis Tennessee. in Indianapolis, Indiana Robert Kennedy heard the news right before a scheduled campaign stop in the African American area of town. Local police said they couldn't protect RFK in the heart of the Ghetto. His aides urged him to leave. Kennedy refused and gave what many feel is one of the best speeches in modern political history. The speech lasted four minutes and fifty-seven seconds and was given off the back of a flatbed truck. Bobby spoke of King's vision and told the crowd he could understand their grief and anger since his brother had been gunned down in Dallas. This was the first time he had referred to John's murder in a public forum. Kennedy quoted the Greek playwright Aeschylus, he called for peace, wisdom and compassion.
Cities across America burned that night. Indianapolis was not one of them.
Bobby Kennedy may have clenched the Democratic nomination that night.  Two months later RFK fell to an assassin himself in Los Angeles after winning the California primary.
The Days of rage turned the Chicago Democratic Convention into a war zone on TV. Humphrey won the nomination in a bruising floor fight with the Kennedy delegates. Even with this baggage Humphrey barely lost.
Nixon decided to go after the older, angry white voter. "The Silent Majority". The Southern Strategy. This was the first openly racist campaign waged by the modern GOP. Us vs. them equaled Black and young vs. white and angry. It was worse in '72. Almost overt. Code words flew every time Nixon or Agnew opened their mouth.
After Nixon was kicked to the curb Ford ran a rather clean campaign. It was about the last.
Southern Dixiecrats and many Dems became Republicans. In the North the same thing happened as white voters felt threatened by black political and social gains. The Southern Strategy had matured into a solid generational Republican voting block.
The Evangelicals and extreme conservatives were used as ground troops in knocking on doors and getting out the vote.
In popular culture these people were derided as hillbillies and holy rollers. As I've said before many looked at "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "Hee Haw" as documentaries.
In the movie "Oh God", God got snarky with the Televangelist.
In the anger over how they were treated and lack of political power in a country they saw slipping away the GOP solidified this population.
Ronald Reagan used his folksy charm to wage a campaign of covert racism. He also demonized the Democratic opposition. They made the word liberal an insult. Anyone who disagreed was smeared as being Un American A socialist bent on destroying traditional American values and waging war on Christianity. Even reasonable moderate voices were tarred as Liberals.
During the papacy of St. Ronnie a war on Unions was declared. Corporations and the rich were vaunted as the basis of the American post war economic miracle. Union workers were lazy and overpaid. Taxes were cut. Deficits exploded and taxes were raised.
The cultural war against secular life was heating up. Hollywood was destroying American life. Homosexuals were plotting to take over America. Women were abandoning their traditional roles upsetting the natural order of things.
The Robertson's and Falwell's were being taken seriously. The expert use of Television was spreading their word, filling their coffers and growing their political clout. These preachers were frequent guests  at the White House. Political endorsements were sought and turned elections. Fewer people
identified as members of the traditional Religious denominations and were calling themselves Born Again.
Evangelical conservatives railed against the secularization of the United States. Hollywood and Collegiate elites were condemned for destroying American values. Women no longer stayed at home. They wanted careers.They enjoyed sex. African Americans no longer knew their place. They were uppity and wanted equality. Homosexuals were plotting to convert everyone and let their pedaphile prolictivities loose. Lesbians were going to beat up men and take their jobs in construction, law enforcement and the military.
The nation had fallen from the path of God and there would be dire consequences if the Almighty wasn't restored to daily life
The political conservatives were natural allies of the evangelicals. They both distrusted change. So they joined forces.
Both groups felt the GOP was simply paying lip service to their causes and taking advantage of them. They were right. The Republicans were not about to turn the party over to zealots. So, the insurgents took it. They ran against incumbents in primaries and won.
Since the late 90's we have seen moderate voices driven out of the party. The result is as they came into power they were lurching farther to the right. With no moderate power structure to keep them in check they reveled in their newfound ability to legislate to their heart's content.
There were no old warhorses to teach them how to govern. These neophytes saw the lifeblood of government(compromise) vilified as selling out. There was no one to tell them their concept of the Constitution was flawed at best, completely wrong at worst. Most fell over themselves running to the worst case scenario.
This coalition has decided to undo all the progress made over the last century plus. They are fed validation by media sites that would have been laughed out of existence a generation ago. The Fox news model of disinformation, half truths and lies has been adopted and expanded. We are deluged by a tsunami of willful ignorance, lies and hate, 24/7.
The audience that receives most of their information from these sites are deluded into believing we are on the verge of civil war. They are convinced they are under attack.
This has gone from people not understanding how governing works to wanting to destroy what they see as a monolithic, secular government wishing to establish a godless, socialist utopia.
Never underestimate the stupidity of people in large groups. Even more so if they are frightened. They latch on to anything that makes them feel safe.
I lived through the sixties and I have never seen division and hatred the way it exists here today.
Rather than make fun of the Militias we should be concerned at their explosive growth. How many McVeigh's are out there?
Rather than make fun of these extremists we should be concerned. There are likely people North and South who would love to fire on FT. Sumter again.
We need to out work them.
We need to out vote them.
We need to out evangelize them.
Too long have we let the right control the message. We need to fight back against the the lies with cold hard facts.
We can no longer be concerned with hurting their feelings. We've been punching bags for too long. Time to punch back.

What happens when you turn the Torquemada Wing of The GOP loose...

         The stampede of so-called conservative thought over the cliff of sanity may actually be proof of evolution for science deniers. Since Newt Gingrich enabled the reactionary right to take over the GOP House majority in 1994 The Republican Party has developed a "wide stance". Their stance on issues was once narrow. Government was the problem, not the answer. taxes were too high and Welfare Queens were a sign of the downfall of America. It was basically the Gospel of Saint Ronnie.
Gingrich helped engineer the first loss of the House of Representatives by the Democratic Party in forty years.They did this by making Liberal a term of derision, uniting the right wing factions and stoking the underlying racial fears and tensions present in American life. They immediately over reached with reactionary slash and burn policies. Clear cognizant political analysis was a skill the GOP lacked then and now.
The idea that any Democrat winning the White House was an illegitimate usurpation of the will of the mythical conservative American majority took root and blossomed. Unfortunately the bloom was the Rafflesia arnoldii. The corpse flower. It's name is an apt description of it's scent.
The Republicans spent the Nineties as the Minority, then the majority party, trying to destroy, discredit and remove President William Jefferson Clinton.
President and Mrs. Clinton were accused of murdering Assistant White Counsel Vince Foster who tragically took his own life. (I'm expecting this to be resurrected by the Beck's and Limbaugh's should Hillary run in '16)A special prosecutor was appointed to investigate a land deal in Arkansas called Whitewater, The prosecutor was replaced for not being aggressive enough in his investigation of the President and was replaced By Ken Starr. After five years and millions of dollars Starr managed to convict Clinton Arkansas associates Susan and Jim McDougal along with Clinton's successor as Arkansas Governor Jim Guy Tucker and have the conviction of Webster Hubbell overturned for prosecutorial misconduct.
Failing to find criminal conduct in Whitewater, Starr expanded the scope of his investigation. It spread through the Executive Branch like MRSA. Firing of people in the White House travel office. No traction. Obstruction accusations against Hillary. No traction. Fraud. Nope. They eventually found Monica Lewinski. I am not proud of how this young woman was treated by we on the Left. She was ridiculed and vilified.She was not the first woman ever seduced by men with power. And won't be the last.
Starr recommended the impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton for lying under oath about a blow job (perjury) and trying to stop the investigation of said blow job. (Obstruction of Justice). In a lame duck session the GOP controlled House voted basically along party lines to impeach President Clinton. This was the second time a President was impeached by the House. On a straight party line vote the Senate, for the second time in it's history, failed to convict on Bills of Impeachment. And this was with a Republican majority. This action was unpopular with the American people as the President had an approval rating of over 60%. The Republican response was pretty much, Sorry Honey, it's been a long time and I prematurely pulled the trigger.
Al Gore, distancing himself from Clinton won the popular vote and saw the Electoral College handed to George Bush by the Supreme Court.
After his disastrous first term President Bush and the Republicans lost the House and Senate in the '06 mid terms. Until then Bush had a rubber stamp Congress that enabled him to spend us into record debt by reducing taxes as we went to war for the first time ever. Following these tax cuts the GOP went on a spending spree like a thief using a stolen high limit credit card. The debt ceiling was repeatedly raised with no qualms by a Republican House. Oh, after gaining a House Majority the Democrats did not vote to impeach Bush or Cheney. They instigated no political witch hunts. They did not repeatedly hold political repeal votes that had no chance of passing the Senate. They actually tried to govern. Imagine that.
In 2008 Senator Barack Obama was elected President in an impressive victory over Senator John McCain. The right wing immediately went into bat shit crazy mode.
A person I know who was a Republican operative at the time said had they nominated a true conservative they would have won. He also said this in '12 when Romney had his ass handed to him by President Obama. Election night in '08 Sean Hannity said he was going to be a leader in the resistance. Mere hours after the '08 election Obama Derangement Syndrome was in full swing. The right wing idea that a Democrat could not be elected President without massive fraud was back. Any Democratic President was illegitimate.The election had to have been stolen. It is so easy to manufacture a few million votes on cue.
On Inauguration Day in 2009, Republican leaders met to plot a way to obstruct any meaningful agenda put forth by the President.
Immediately the existence of Bush spending policies ceased to exist. The record debt and near collapse of the economy was the doing of a President who had not been in office. The lies and misrepresentations were spewed from Republican office holders, RWNJ blogs, so-called news sites and Fox News.
The once fringe idea that The President was foreign born, a secret Muslim, a possible sleeper agent, a black militant and a America hating Socialist went mainstream.The mainstreaming of once ridiculous,once fringe conspiracy theories has become a hallmark of the modern Republican Party. Had Dems met the day Bush was inaugurated to plan to obstruct they would have been in the dock being tried for sedition and treason.There was no investigation to find any criminal culpability in any of the Bush Administration's actions.
Faced with a problematic Senate the President was still able to accomplish a lot in the first half of his first term. The Affordable Care Act became the clarion call to the right to solidify opposition to any progressive agenda that was proposed. It has since become the most public face of Obama Derangement Syndrome. More about that later.
Following the President's election, hard as it is to believe, Fox News became even less connected to reality. Any person who had a conspiracy theory, any misrepresentation of the facts concerning any Presidential policy and supposed proof we were marching down the road to Socialism was given extensive airtime. We discovered there was a Federally mandated war on Religion. The Majority Religion in The United States felt they were being persecuted.
The Tea Party became the darlings of Fox News. They were treated as an actual, reasoning political force. They were a political force but without reason. Racist statements and views were downplayed  and denied. Bastardized inaccurate and out right lies were passed off as actual accepted history. America was depicted as being founded as a Christian nation contrary to facts stating the opposite. Quotes by the Founders were pulled out of context. Contradictory statements and letters were ignored. The role of slavery in American was woefully misrepresented. The radical underpinnings of the Revolution was being shown as only a taxation issue and a conservative movement. The Constitution was being interpreted as The Articles Of Confederation 2.0. The very existence of Federalism was being denied. I don't think a conservative movement has ever resulted in a Radical reformation of the world order.
More and more of the Tea Party was being elected to offices. Fox and others presented this as proof that the American political landscape is conservative. The usual denial of fact. These tea party activists have pushed the GOP farther and farther to the right. This is simply because of Primaries.
For decades the primary system has been dominated by the zealot on both sides. The true believers are the ones who work in campaigns, donate money and vote. The GOP Primaries were hijacked by the reactionary right. Any office holder who failed a purity test was purged in a challenge from the right. Any candidate that survived moved right to protect their political future. The major method of governing with two political parties, compromise. was vilified and denigrated as selling out.
Recent negotiations between the GOP controlled House and the White House has borne this out. The GOP position has been give us everything we want or we drive the nation over a cliff. These ideologues would rather burn down America rather than not get their way. In fact many see burning down our house as a good way to reach their political utopia.
Ideas,attitudes and beliefs that would have at one time been ridiculed are now considered to be a viable political philosophy. Willful ignorance is thought to be a path to election and reelection. It is seen as a pathway to the Presidency under the assumption ignorance is a virtue.
Jack Kennedy as a Catholic felt he had to speak to the concerns of Protestants that America wouldn't be ruled from Rome by the Pope. Today conservative evangelical views are worn by Republican candidates as a prerequisite to being an office holder. Let's forget this is the antithesis of two centuries of American political practice and thought.
We have people in power who reject the existence of the 21st Century. They reject evolution. They believe creationism should be taught as a viable scientific principle. They believe the Universe and Earth are the same age. 6,000 years. They deny human physiology as a liberal secular plot. Some decry science as lies from the pit of Hell. They believe their view of Christianity must be codified into law to prevent some Old Testament style smiting.
So we are seeing unprecedented denial of the world being signed into law. Pregnancy has been redefined. Women have been redefined from being humans and citizens into ambulatory incubators. A life support system for a fetus should be her role.
We need to run a modern society based on books and beliefs of a Bronze Age nomadic civilization. Women are property. They also are the reason for all sin and misery in the world. They are so seductive they force themselves to be raped. Women are disobedient harlots who need to be beaten into submission for their own and the world's good.
These good Christian who seek to rule every aspect of our lives and our very thoughts are vehemently opposed to any healthcare reform in their presence. Saving lives must be an affront to God. People without insurance who get sick are freeloaders. They should have been buying insurance all along. If you have a preexisting condition sorry. you know, free market. Rationing by ability to pay is what God and the founders wanted. So, the House sees fit to have forty repeal votes in a show of political theater. This way they can go home and say, look i'm trying but these Godless Democrats want to take away your freedom to deny healthcare to those you don't like.
Now these people are going to try to extort the repeal of the ACA in the budget negotiations and debt ceiling fight. They would rather shut down the government than admit they lost the last two elections. They refuse to admit that they were found wrong by the American electorate.
The right feels they have a God given mandate to establish a theocratic oligarchy. It appears they will stop at nothing to do it.
We have to stop them. Organize.
 Evangelize.
Help people get voter ID's.
Give rides to people to get them to the poll.
We have to stand against this tide of intolerance, hate and repression.  We must take our country back.
Stand.
Fight.

If it's Friday, it must be Teabagistan.

          I like to think I'm quasi well informed. A certain amount of self delusion is necessary to remain a more or less functional Human Being. Having one's head constantly exploding can not be a good thing. It's messy for starters.
So anyway I have found that considering a lot of what the right does as entertaining political theater works for me as a coping mechanism. I have spent the week throwing things, weeping uncontrollably and laughing my skinny Irish American ass off. Let's revive That Was The Week That Was. More or less.
Ok. Let's see here.
Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY{State, not the lube}) will be facing a Primary challenge from the right since he is so liberal. A loaded Tea Party favorite is going after the Senate Minority Leader for being a big government spender, confirming liberal judges, working hand in hand with the Democratic Majority to subvert the Constitution and general not true conservative chicanery. Seriously, you can't make this stuff up and I've tried.This Primary challenge should be fun since a national Tea Party group has endorsed McConnell and KY groups oppose him. Fratricide? Please? I do know the campaign will give The Senate Minority leader a chance to show off his visionary view of America, his amazing grasp of political reality and devotion to clean, accurate, informed. intellectual issue oriented campaign debate. Another profile in courage, I am sure.
While in Kentucky, let's check out the Junior Senator who is making noises about a possible Presidential bid in 2016. Senator Rand Paul.
Recently Senator Paul was hailed as a gun rights hero for actually doing a real filibuster because...freedom. Senator Paul visited Iowa to address the State's evangelical Pastors. The Senator is reaching out to minority voters saying no one in the Senate is a bigger supporter of minority rights than him. Now, this is the guy who thinks the Civil Rights Act is unconstitutional.
The Federal Government had no right to ban segregation by private entities.He feels that the free market would have ended segregation because it was doing such a bang up job of that in the Sixties. Were they still around we could verify that with Woolworth's. You know with their lunch counters in the South being so progressive and all.
Senator Paul feels the GOP is the natural home for minorities if they can get past the image problems. So he is promoting a big tent approach as he slams Rep. Peter King(R-NY) for being exclusionary. The Junior Senator from Kentucky is doing this with a straight face as he woos the Taliban wing of Christianity and the so tolerant, reasonable Tea Party voters.
I am looking forward to the 2016 GOP Presidential Primaries as is every stand up comedian, The Daily Show and Colbert. It is promising to make the 2012 Republican field look sane and thoughtful.
I am positive , in a Nation where religious test for public office is expressly forbidden, we will see all the contenders trying to out Taliban each other as the truest conservative Christian. They all know in spite of the lies taught in secular, liberal history classes America was founded as a Christian theocracy. Ask David Barton.
Already we have Senator Ted Cruz(R-TX) seemingly contemplating a run. I am waiting for the inquisition to start over a son of a Cuban who fought with Castro, becoming a citizen in 2005 and an American mother who gave birth in Canada to start any minute. Just kidding. He's not a Democrat. Cruz's platform seems to simply consist of being against anything a sane, rational person is for. He is also proud he is not considered a team player by his Senate Republican colleagues because if he runs for President it is always a good idea to alienate like minded potential allies.
Arch conservative Catholic Rick Santorum hasn't ruled out another run. After all his desire to reestablish the Catholic Inquisition and other archaic, abandoned Church positions and practices as law were so very popular.He may be seeking support of the Torquemada wing of the GOP.
Governor Rick Perry of the Great State of Texas has decided not to seek reelection. This frees him up to spend months and other peoples money to embarrass and humiliate his home State. He'll be able to expound on the great job he has done saving Texas women from their natural stupidity and general sluttiness.
Then there is Perter King of New York. This GOP House Rep has made a career of saying really stupid, intolerant offensive shit is planning a run. His strategy seems to be pissing of everyone except a few racist, homophobic, islamophobic, misogynist white guys. Another guy who couldn't carry his home State in a bucket. Let's also ignore the fact there has been no successful run for the Presidency by a member of the House since the latter part of the 19th Century.
We still haven't heard from the usual suspects Palin, Bachman(if she can stay out of jail).Huckabee and the darling of the literati, Donald Trump.
There are also staunch defenders of women and unions looking at a run. Governor John Kasich of Ohio and Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin.  These guys will be great choices for Republican outreach to women. Their impeccable record of protecting women from themselves speaks for itself. Surely they will attract the support of the Pro life movement. I am anticipating the well reasoned, well researched appeals to logic we will see from these activists. How can you go wrong attacking 52% of the population? Maybe Ann Coulter will help with the base by reminding everyone she thinks women are too stupid to vote.
America can also look forward to candidates for State Elections, Federal House and Senate seats to enlighten us with their views. These stalwarts of Freedom will attack science, history and knowledge as having a Liberal bias. There will be calls to put God in the classroom. They will lecture us on the Constitution, States Rights, creeping socialism, Tyrannical Healthcare. the Feminist, Lesbian, Homosexual secular agenda and a subject they have proven to be experts on, rape. Basically it will be a clarion call for a return to the Dark ages.That did work well for religious leaders and the political elite.
In 2016 I do believe we can continue to see American Political discourse devolve even more into entertainment. A reality show. We must raise our voices to push a substantive debate on real issues. Real American tradition is to expand rights not to strip segments of the population of them. This should never be done using religion and tradition as a rallying cry. After all this was the basis for slavery. This is used to keep the harlot in her place. Decent women want to serve their man.
OK. We have a choice. America moves forward. Or America solidifies itself as a theocratic oligarchy. We stand and watch, wringing our hands or we fight. We vote. We educate. We stand and say no. No farther. This is unAmerican and is not what this Nation was envisioned as.  The time to start is now. As the right is so fond of saying, "I want my Country back". We do. We will prevail as long as good people of belief and vision fight the coming darkness.

Why a war on women: II The sequel

          It's SUMMER and sequels are BIG!! So why not?
Why does the religious right/GOP/Tea Party have such a problem with the modern American woman?American women today have more freedom, empowerment and options than at nearly anytime in our history. Oh,oh. There's the reason.
Why?
I live in Ohio which seem to be a microcosm of America in general. I am exposed to sermons disguised as policy and dogma disguised as Legislative initiative. The idea of establishing a fundamentalist Christian theocracy seems to be a mission and duty to those in power. Once American religious thought was served by the mainstream Denominations. Now the loudest and most influential sects make a Southern Baptist look like a Unitarian. WTF is going on here? Well, lets turn over some rocks and take a look.
In the 2010 election cycle the American electorate through complacency and pique allowed extremist reactionaries to seize power. These people seem to reject the last half of the 19th, all of the 20th and 21st centuries as an affront to God and an abandonment of "Christian"values. They also reject the secular, humanist and enlightenment influences and underpinnings of the United States Constitution. They not only reject these influences but have found history deniers to extol the idea America was founded as a Christian theocracy. David Barton and a few historians who are as respected in their fields as Dr. Daniel Jackson was as an archeologist in "Stargate"babble about lost histories.
Emboldened they view anything curtailing their reactionary actions and message as a war on Christians. The majority religion in The United States is whining about being oppressed. With a God given sureness and arrogance born of zealotry they are flexing their muscles.
Since 2010 there has been a crusade against the moderate secular majority. No view, statement or attempted legislation seems out of bounds to them. Being on a mission from God gives you a lot of leeway as to what you target.
In a nation where a religious test for office is expressly forbidden, the 2012 Republican Primary candidates felt a need to out Jesus each other. This in a country where in 1960 John Kennedy felt compelled to speak to the role of religion in American Politics.JFK expressed the idea he could separate being a Roman Catholic from his duties as POTUS of all the American people. Rick Santorum felt the urge to tell us this speech, which is considered as one of the most important, as one of the best political speeches of the Twentieth Century, nauseated him.
These candidates wouldn't acknowledge they believed in evolution.
Sitting Republican officeholders believe in different types of rape. Some forms are more legitimate than others.
Views that not that long ago would have been ridiculed are now a path to election to public office.
A member of the House Science And Technology Committee called science lies from the pit of hell.
A common thread to all these views is America has strayed from a righteous path into the briars of secularism. Traditional American Christian values have been subverted. We face an Old Testament style smiting by a wrathful God.
To restore America to greatness these problems must be removed. The word of God, as they understand it,must be restored as our moral and legal compass.
So they go after the Biblical cause of all of mankind's problems.
Women.
Since Eve women have been the source of all evils to befall us as a species. Disobedient harlots and temptresses who constantly seduce men into straying from the one true path.
Modern women are no longer chained to home and hearth. They are educated, empowered and independent members of society. They are Doctors, Lawyers, Scientists and political leaders. They are free to determine their own lives, options and futures. In other words the destroyers of traditional values.
They have stolen jobs from men. Women not being stay at home mothers has destroyed the American family dynamic. They feel they can think independently of their husbands. These women actually believe they have the right to decide if or when they will bear children. For some satanic reason they don't believe they should be subservient to men. Submission is no longer seen as a duty. Abhorrent disrespect to the will of God.
If you view modern women as a threat and thorn in your side what is the best way to deal with them?
How do you push them out of public life and back into the home? How do you save and restore America?
Control the reproductive options of a woman.
SInce the introduction of hormonal birth control having a reliable method of birth control has allowed women to step outside of the traditional roles if she wishes.
A family can plan when to have children. A family can decide not to have children.
The fact a woman can enjoy and have non procreational sex is more evidence of their responsibility for the collapse of civilization. Everyone knows that by their very nature women are tramps, sluts, harlots and whores. The only thing that keeps these lustful seductresses in check is the possibility of unintended pregnancy. Once that threat is minimized they are free to wreak havoc on the world.
They will challenge men as their betters. They will reject the need of a stern, strict hand to keep them in there ordained place. How can this be stopped?
First demonize abortion. Make a medical procedure be seen as murder. Lie that it is blithely used as a convenient form of birth control. Thus only sluts that refuse to face the consequences of their wanton actions seek to abort. Slut shaming is needed to intimidate and humiliate women. How else can we drive the life lesson home?
Since the secular heathens won't allow outright abortion bans any possible barrier to access must be devised and put in place. Unnecessary preferably humiliating and invasive medical procedures need to be mandated. Lectures containing disputed and purposely false information need to be required. Waiting periods are a good idea. So is forced counseling by groups whose purpose is to urge carrying the pregnancy to term. Change regulations to require unneeded and expensive renovations of provider sites. This may force some to close. Eliminate legal reasons for abortion. After all a baby conceived in rape and violence is a gift from God. All of a woman;s healthcare needs to be controlled by men. We all know women are too emotional, irrational and let's face it guys. just not smart enough to make decisions that decide their future.
Now to compliment abortion denial we need to make birth control harder to access and seem dangerous. This will need a public/private collaboration. First of all where we can get away with it let's redefine pregnancy. The AMA defines it as happening on the implantation of a fertilized egg to the uterine wall. However as GOP lawmakers we are more knowledgeable about this. Science after all has a liberal bias. Pregnancy begins at conception. Any method of birth control that in any possible way could prevent implantation is now an abortion causing agent. So we can force the abortion regulations to get an IUD or a prescription for the pill. Plan B ? Same thing. Morning after pill? Ditto.
Companies will need to challenge any coverage of birth control or abortion as a violation of their religious freedom. It is vitally important this be done with a straight face.
We all know unions are evil. Let's attack them. Since Teachers, medical workers and public employees are predominately where women find good paying jobs they will be the main target If union protection and wages can be eliminated women will be economically forced to rely on men again. It also has the added benefit of curtailing any political voice that could be raised in defense of our attempts to strip the gals of full citizenship. Praise God!
We can not let the religious right impose their shameless agenda to strip our sisters, wives, sweethearts and mothers of the rights that are those of any citizen. We can not allow women to be classified as simply walking incubators. Stand. Raise your voice and say NO!  This will not stand!
Send these people back to their pews and pulpit where they belong. Religion has no place in law.

Why a war on Women? Is the right really that crazy?

          I am an older white male. I know we are the generic oppressors. I also know that is as accurate as any other stereotype. Any person who has read my blog posts can easily see my positions and the stands I take on the idea of equality. I believe equal means equal. Period.
The rights of any citizen is not something to be graciously granted by a patriarchal Legislative body or voted on whether to grant or deny said rights at the whim of an electorate. The rights one segment of society enjoys should be without question the rights all must have. Again, period. There should be no discussion or debate.
Once a debate starts about rights it is usually to deny or strip a certain portion of the population of equality under assorted guises. The most popular of these guises are "Tradition" and "Religious" rights and freedoms.
I have never posted twice in one day. However this simmering anger and dismay of mine has annoyed me to the point I need to address this subject again. In this political climate I am also sure this won't be the last time.
I have a question for the Congress of the United States of America, the Legislatures of Ohio, Texas,and Wisconsin along with the others doing this. Why, with the pressing serious issues facing the States and our Nation has you priority been the systematic attack on women's rights, heatcare options and futures? Have you lost your minds?  Seriously.
Any moderately informed person knows your stated reasons are a sham.
This has nothing to do with safety.
This has nothing to do with education.
This has nothing to do with options other than limiting them.
I am going to once again examine this and give my ,I like to feel is informed, opinion on the why's. And the hows.
I was out of High School when Roe v. Wade was decided.  When I was in high School a young woman that became pregnant vanished. As a slut her education was over. It usually resulted in an early marriage of two kids unprepared to be parents. Since both were out of school without a diploma their future was limited. The only recourse was a GED. Or the girl went to visit relatives for several months and then an adoption. It was a way to hide the fact your daughter was a tramp.
Birth Control was something not discussed in polite society. I can remember when condoms had the disclaimer sold for prevention of disease only. Yep, in places birth control was illegal. That pretty much ended when SCOTUS struck down Connecticut's statute.
There has been amazing progress made in women's rights since the Sixties. We still have a long road to travel. The idea that a woman should know her place and that place was the home has, until recently, been dismissed as archaic.  I had hoped we could continue towards full equality and elimination if institutionalized sexism. Now a movement to undo centuries of progress has raised it's head and bared fangs.
Somehow the very idea that women are human beings, valuable members of society and full citizens has come under fire. Some disguise it as concern for women;s heath and option education. Others may be less disingenuous when they say women need to fulfil their God defined role in society.
The history of civilization is ,with minor exceptions, a tale of patriarchal societies. One could tell how evolved a society was by the way they treated women.I am sorry to say the record is not pretty.A battle that unlike other societies, Americans were actually willing and able to fight. It was a war I thought had been mostly won. I felt we were in the end stages, like Patton crossing the Rhine in the waning days of WWII.
The war was long. Women went from effectively being property to being able to own property. They were able to eventually have money in their own right. Suffragettes finally forced the passage of the 19th Amendment to The US Constitution giving women voting rights. Many men thought this would simply double their vote. A wife would never vote in a way that her husband disapproved. This was also recent enough that it affected both my Grandmothers.
During the Second World War with so many men in uniform women stepped forward to staff the arsenal of democracy. Rosie the riveter became an icon. Women ferried bombers to the European Theater of War. Women built the weapons needed to end the war. When it was over they were expected to return home to the kitchen. many did. Some didn't.
In the Fifties you saw the rise of the working woman. She was basically limited to traditional women's jobs. Nurses, though a few became Doctors. Legal secretaries, though some became lawyers And so on and so forth.
Eventually more and more women were able to gain a foothold in The Man's World.
Following the introduction of hormonal birth control in the early Sixties women were finally able to control if, when and how many times they would become pregnant.
Finally a woman had some control over her life. She could get a degree. She could pursue a career.
From the Sixties forward it was an upward curve for women. They forced more doors open. Roe v. Wade gave them safe access to abortion. Women gained control of their reproductive health which gave them control of their lives and futures.
Attitudes were slow to change. Most realized it would be a generational battle. You can't change ingrained thinking overnight.
I know I was confused. The paradigm I grew up in was obsolete. I had a choice to evolve or not. I chose evolution.
I had to change how I thought. I had to reevaluate how I interacted with women. It was a learning curve for both genders.
Some though saw empowerment of women as a direct challenge to their manhood. Others were dismayed that women were able to have sex without the spectre of an unwanted pregnancy looming in the shadows. They gnashed their teeth and tore at their garments as they saw the end of a christian nation. Women enjoying sex. Women not beholden to a man. Women free to live as a full citizen. The end times are nigh. Somehow these people went from fringe whackos who were laughed at as holy rollers to positions of power and authority.Once ensconced they went to work.
These were devout evangelicals and anti abortion activists. They were the ground troops for the GOP throughout the Eighties and early Nineties. They learned how campaign were fought. They knew how to raise money. They were also tired of Republicans only paying lip service to their issues. So they mounted Primary challenges and took seats from party faithful.
The problem with electing zealots is they won't play nice. They vote their ideology not the party line. They see compromise as a sin and weakness. They will burn down the world to build their Utopia on the ashes.
More and more were elected. This pushed the GOP farther right each cycle. Sitting politicians toed these new ideals to avoid a challenge.
People who had no idea how government works were elected.  People who held extreme positions found what once would have ostracized them now got them elected. Then they discovered something.
 A) In spite of having high profile women espousing their ideas most women weren't having it. They were leaving the party in droves
B) They were sure as good Christians, women were sinful creatures and must submit to a strict hand. They needed to be saved from themselves.
C) Gop members who weren't evangelicals saw women as a threat. Since they weren't getting their vote anyway they may as well destroy any political power they had. If the men seemed caring and pious as they did it, so much the better.
The best way to strip a woman of any ability to plan their lives is prevent them from having access to family planning.
So as the extreme became mainstream others with similar views were emboldened to come forward.
Some business owners felt there would be no downside to discriminating against women.
In 2010 the Tea Party fueled US House and State legislatures took up the sword. Not surprisingly women's rights were not an election issue. The call was jobs, spending and taxes. Once in power the first order of business was attacking women.
The House cut funding on anything that benefited women SNAP. WiC. Pell Grants. Laws were passed with the express purpose of challenging Roe v. Wade. Thankfully these laws had no prayer of passing the Senate and died in limbo.
The States were a different story.
Ohio attempted to redefine pregnancy to conception and ban abortion after a fetal heartbeat was detected. This happens before most women even know they are pregnant. A fetus testified via sonogram. This weas 2011. There had been a bruising battle over union rights and the Senate had no taste for for another fight. The supposed Heartbeat bill died. This year with a bigger majority Ohio was emboldened to try again. As was Wisconsin, Kansas, Arkansas and Texas.
The 2012 election had these issues debated and espoused or opposed by both candidates. The President was reelected with a rejection of the Republican point of view. In spite of this the new year saw a renewed and vigorous attack. The righrt feels had a more conservative ran thet would have run. I have never understood this line of reasoning. So with their majorities due to Gerrymandering the attack is on. Ohio. Texas. Wisconsin. Arkansas.
Pregnancy has been redefined. Clinics are regulated out of existence. Planned Parenthood is defunded. Contraception is attacked as causing abortions. Real sex education make teenagers have sex.
So, if you have issues with women. You are intimidated by smart women? You don't like working for one? You feel superior? Fine. The best way to get women out of public life and the private sector, give her a choice. Celibacy during her child bearing years or pregnant during most of her child bearing years.
Corporations claim they're Christian and can't cover birth control for their women employees becaus it offends the company's morals.
If a women has children it is easier to keep her out of politics. Busy. Easier to keep her out of the workforce. If you refuse to pay equal wages you make women more dependant on men to survive.
Large families keep women at home. They fulfill the bible standard as wives and mothers. She is too busy to be a pest by working in campaigns. Worn out and old before her time.
This frees up jobs for men.
Keeps women from major involvement in political life.
A win win for the evangelicals and women haters.
A blissful return to the Fifties.
This is not a place where I want to live. A nation that values women as vital parts of the society.  A country that is better for them. A country that realizes we need the intellect and different point of view to move forward. We stand together.