The War on Contraception and the Rise of Serfdom in America

Since Rick Santorum, or as they call him Mr. Frothy in much of the left-leaning blogosphere, was quoted as saying that the states should have the right to outlaw contraception (a clever way of saying that it ought to be outlawed without coming out and saying it directly), I've been thinking a lot about the general state of affairs in these United States. It's the 21st century to be sure, but the neoCons seem intent on taking us back to the dark ages, not only by outlawing contraception, and ostensibly abortion, but by having a population of serfs utterly dependent upon the Corporatocracy for every little morsel of their genetically engineered food.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that poverty and children are intertwined on the same thread. In fact, as we speak more children are slipping into poverty because our economy is in the toilet.

Who is hardest hit by this poverty? Minorities of course.

"Minorities were hit hardest. Blacks experienced the highest poverty rate, at 27 percent, up from 25 percent in 2009, and Hispanics rose to 26 percent from 25 percent. For whites, 9.9 percent lived in poverty, up from 9.4 percent in 2009."

So what does the religious right do to try to alleviate this poverty? Do they push family planning and the use of contraception to prevent unwanted pregnancy and therefore abortion? No, they plan to protest abortion at the Democratic National Convention in Charolotte. They insist that abortion is causing a "black genocide".

I read that and thought, 'What a bunch of bullshit.' Isn't that just what the poor need? More mouths to feed? In fact, the African American population in this country has grown over the last ten years and is projected to grow further over the next forty years according to the US census bureau. I know, I know, since when do I expect religious fundamentalists with an agenda to actually tell the truth. Genocide is a loaded word. It's very definition means the utter destruction of a population based on a trait. Well, as you can see from the census data, that ain't happening.

In fact, this sort of thing pisses me off, a lot. It implies that black women aren't fit to make their own decisions regarding their own bodies and their own lives. They need someone to tell them what to do, in this case religious conservatives and a (Caucasian and male dominated) big brother government. Because minorities, especially female minorities, can't be trusted to make decisions.

Black anti-abortion activists depict this phenomenon in dire terms — “genocide” and “holocaust,” for example. But often the women getting the abortions say they act in the interests of children they already have.

“It wasn’t a hard decision for me to make, because I knew where I wanted to go in my life — I’ve never regretted it,” said Kimberly Mathias, 28, an African-American single mother from Missouri.
She had an abortion at 19, when she already raising a 2-year-old son.

“It wasn’t hard to realize I didn’t want another child at that time,” Mathias said. “I was trying to take care of the one I had, and going to college and working at the same time.”

She was able to graduate, now has an insurance job, and — still a single mother — has a 3-year-old son as well as her first-born, now 11.

Women who have abortions for non-medical reasons do so for one of three reasons. Either (1) they already have too many children to care for and can't afford another one, or (2) they aren't ready to have a child because they are still in school but would like children later, or (3) they don't ever want children. Why do these religious fascists think they have a right to tell women that they must carry a pregnancy to term no matter their current state of affairs, no matter if they just simply don't want children? Where do they get off? Let's turn this back on them. I don't ever want children and I don't think anyone should have children either so therefore I'm going to legislate no more children ever! Ridiculous right? Yeah, about as ridiculous as their reasoning, or rather lack thereof.

The argument against abortion breaks down into two camps. The religious wingnuts who think that if they allow others (not themselves mind you because these laws don't apply to them) to have abortions then some imaginary sky god will be angry at them. And the other camp? The Corporatocracy of course. I imagine it hasn't escaped their notice that outlawing abortion, and especially contraception, would increase poverty in this country. And an increase in poverty is good for the rich and good for big business. Outlawing contraception and abortion would essentially assure that most women, and by extension their children, would live in poverty and never be able to get themselves out of it. If you think this is bullshit, read this study. I for one didn't need to read that study. I've seen the vicious cycle of poverty with my own eyes.

What better way for the Corporatocracy to have a steady stream of poor workers than to outlaw contraception? Workers who would be willing to work for minimum wage, if the minimum wage even lasts that long. Poverty is a trap, and one incredibly difficult to get out of. We speak of choices. Those born into poverty had no choice in the matter and the Corporate-christo-fascists don't want them to have one either, as it serves the Corporate jackals to have a serf class at their beck and call.

An open letter to the people of North Carolina, district 5

Dear people of North Carolina,

This week Virginia Foxx sponsored an amendment to de-fund medical schools that teach abortion. Now, regardless of what your stance is on abortion, sometimes it is medically necessary and not a choice at all. In cases of ectopic pregnancy, severely deformed fetus or in the case the mother would definitely die if allowed to attempt to carry the pregnancy to term. Whatever you may think about god and life, pregnancy is not perfect. Shit happens. Sometimes very bad shit. Doctors need to know how to perform abortions. This isn't the dark ages. Please do not let people like Virginia Foxx drag us back into one.

I was born in North Carolina, and I would thoroughly appreciate it if you would vote this crazy bitch out of office. It makes all of us look bad. I know quite well that most of the people of North Carolina are indeed sane and rational people, whatever their political persuasions. Unlike Virginia Foxx, who is to put it mildly, quite mad.

Sincerely yours,
–Quite Mad (but not crazy like a Foxx)

Tea Party Schizophrenia: A true mental disease

In a recent poll, it was found that supporters of the Tea Party movement were likely to support the Christian Conservative agenda.

"While the loosely organized Tea Party movement has focused largely on shrinking the size of government and other fiscal issues, its backers are more likely to support government restrictions on gay marriage and other social issues, the Public Religion Research Institute found in its American Values Survey."

This is, in a nutshell, just more proof of how bat-shit crazy these people are. It's not that they want less government, it's not that they want their concept of "moral values" forced upon the citizens of these United States, it's that they want both. They want to have their proverbial cake and eat it too. Except, the cake is a lie. It's always a lie.

They want less government interference in regulating things that keep us safe. They want more government meddling into the private lives of homosexuals, wanting the government to pass laws to keep them from being able to marry or share their partner's insurance benefits, some going so far as to say that laws should be passed making homosexual acts/partnerships illegal. They want less government funding of education (wanting to dismantle the Department of Education and quit funding college loans and grants, because ask any slave master from the 19th century about the best way to keep people as chattel). They want more government interference with the bodies of women, to tell them that they must have children, whether they want them or not, whether they are mentally and emotionally fit to have them or not, whether they've been raped and abused or not.

It's really a complete schizophrenia, to sit there and say that the government should have no influence in the corporate lives of businesses but at the same time that same government should be in our bedrooms telling us what to do, who to be with and forcing women to carry a pregnancy they don't want, or is dangerous to their health, to term. I'll call it for what it is. It's goddamned fascism, pure and bleeding simple. It's so Orwellian, it's almost un-fucking-believable, for these ass-hats to sit there and scream that they are the denizens of freedom and democracy, and at the same time wanting to put their jackboots at the throats of their fellow Americans to make them follow their own twisted version of "morality".

Forced Motherhood and Automated Phone Calls

My mother-in-law got a phone call yesterday. She said that the right-wing nut jobs had called her with one of those automated recordings, begging her to send them money to support the passing of the Right to Life Act. Like that will be a cold day in hell. These people have decided that life begins at conception, and they want the government to force it on the rest of us. I really do wonder if they realize just how much this whole thing cheapens and makes a mockery of their religion.

I tell you what. You want to live in a country where birth control and abortion are illegal? Try Iran or Saudi Arabia. Well, actually even as backwards as they are, a woman can still have an abortion if she would die if she carried the child to term. And that brings me to another point. Before abortion was legal in this country, rich people would do one of two things. They would either pay their family doctor off and get him to say the mother's life was in danger and have him do it, or they would travel to Europe and have it done there. So, it being illegal is no problem for those who have the means to pay off the doctor, or to travel to another country.

However, if you're poor and don't have the money, guess what? You get to be a mother, like it or not, and now you have a(nother) mouth to feed. But don't expect any help from the State. These are the same idiots who want to do away with welfare, food stamps and WIC, because the dirty poor people are taking all their tax dollars. They only care about fetuses. I know they don't give a damn about women either, most of them are misogynist women haters. They're old white men, and if there's any women tagging along, I swear they have Stockholm Syndrome. They also don't give a damn about the children who are already here, the ones who don't have enough to eat and are living in abject poverty. There are 42 MILLION children in this country who live in families that do not make enough to meet their basic needs. The federal poverty level is already grossly low. You can't survive on that kind of income as a single adult, much less if you have other mouths to feed. So what I want to know, is where the hell are these people when it comes to the children who are already here? Oh wait, I know. Children starving to death doesn't win elections. Rhetoric and divisive issues do.

To go back to the argument of when life does indeed begin, the supreme court ruled in the decision of Roe v. Wade, that they weren't able to figure that one out. If these morons think that the congress can figure that one out, seriously, they have another thing coming. This is a philosophical question that has been argued for centuries, maybe even millenia, and we are no closer to knowing the exact moment life begins than we were when the conversation started. It almost seems as if the Christians are arguing that we are nothing more than our physical bodies, the sperm and egg coming together, making a zygote, and that's all. Hmm. That sounds exactly like what atheists believe. *blink blink* Yeah. I never did quite understand why they had a problem with abortion. It would seem to me, that from their religious beliefs, they would believe that if someone did have an abortion, the fetus would go and be in heaven with Jesus. Just one more contradiction from the unthinking Religious Right.

In fact, if these Christians are going to use their Bible as a guide, it repeatedly says that life doesn't begin until the baby draws it's first breath. It says that in multiple places. It also says that the penatly for causing a woman to miscarry is a fine paid to the woman and her family. If they had believed that the fetus was a "life" the penalty would have been death, as it was a "life for a life". But the Christians who comprise the Religious Right (if you can even call them Christians), are the biggest bunch of hypocrites I've ever met.

I don't want children. I came from abject poverty. I have seen it with my own eyes. I shouldn't have to have children if I don't want them and neither should any other woman. On top of that, I shouldn't be forced to by a government puppeted by a bunch of totalitarian theocratic religious fanatics. Jeez, is it possible that I could go one post without mentioning the Nazis? I'll leave that one alone. If you've studied history, you'll know what I'm talking about.