Meanwhile, in Alabama...

Alabama's new abortion law, legally, is extremely problematic; but there's one big problem Alabama lawmakers may not have considered.  It probably violates the Alabama State Constitution.  Why?

It fails to criminalize the women who have abortions.

The ruling of the Alabama Supreme Court in Ex Parte Ritter, a case decided in 1979, is clear: "[A]ll persons concerned in the commission of a felony, whether they directly commit the act constituting the offense or aid or abet in its commission, though not present, must hereafter be indicted, tried and punished as principals."  Not merely "present" at their abortions, women are the initiators of the felony defined by the new law.  If their doctors are subject to sentences of up to 99 years, those women must be subject to the same penalties.

Other states, like Georgia, have not made the same mistake — but, needless to say, have downplayed the fact that recipients of abortions can expect time in prison.  While the religious fanatics behind the war on abortion may not be bothered by that fact, plenty of their fellow travelers will be encouraged to think twice.  Politically, jailing women who have abortions is a losing proposition.

Conservative states already are jailing women for behaviors that potentially endanger an embryo or a fetus.  Most often, those behaviors involve use of controlled substances; so they enjoy little sympathy from the general public.  Jailing a 14-year-old for aborting Daddy's baby is sure to provoke a far stronger response.

Next point of business, please...

Now that he's confirmed, let's just hurry up and get the postmortem behind us.

Kavanaugh's chief qualifications for the Court are that he will be dependably pro-corporate and pro-plutocrat.  Born to wealth, power, and privilege, he never will find anything in the Constitution that might threaten the prerogatives of his class; and he'll vote to expand those prerogatives whenever the opportunity arises.  He might not vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, but he'll happily approve states legislating it into irrelevance.  After all, if some high school drunk knocks up one of his daughters, she won't have any trouble securing a safe, medical abortion.

Had Democrats genuinely wanted to stop Kavanaugh because of his moral failures, Feinstein's office could have had a quiet word with the White House Counsel while Kavanaugh was just a name on a list — but they said nothing.  It was only after he was nominated that Blasey-Ford's story –and her name– were leaked to the press.  Once her name was public, she had no choice but to testify.  Republicans may have been the ravening beasts, but Democrats were the ones who tossed her into the arena.  Throughout the entire sorry spectacle, Blasey-Ford was the only individual who behaved well .

Clearly, women will be better off if Democrats capture the House next month, and the same is true for anybody who is not part of the so-called "one percent" — but those who want the kinds of change that genuinely will make a difference have to do more.  We have to grab the Democratic Party by the neck and shake out the corporatists, the neoliberals, and the rest of the entrenched leadership.  When Bill Clinton and his "New Democrats" moved the Party to the right, they abandoned its principles.  It's time for real Democrats to take our Party back.

Shariah Law Advances in US

The anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks seemed like a good time for an update on religious extremism.  Even without those emails from your crazy uncle, you should know that fanatics are working tirelessly to warp the American legal system with their primitive beliefs.

Okay, it's not exactly "Shariah" because the religion involved isn't Islam, but the chief objectives of all those Abrahamic preachers are the same: the subjugation of women and the de-eroticization of sex.  Leading the American jihad are Evangelical Christians, aided and abetted by conservative Catholics and orthodox Jews.  With the ascendance of the Tr*mp Administration, they have attained unprecedented prominence and power.

Much like the rulers of Saudi Arabia, they know that women are temptresses who lead men into moral peril, and hence must be denied birth control and abortions as a means to regulate their unbridled lust.  Babies will keep them at home, ready to satisfy the physical needs of their husbands and unable to tempt upstanding men like Mike Pence into the sin of adultery.

Speaking of Mike Pence, homosexuals are even more threatening than women because their only motivations for sexual activity are animal lust and immoral gratification.  Worse yet, the transgendered may be especially adept at enticing Mike Pence good Christians into carnal sin.  The Holy Warriors are determined that vulnerable members of the armed forces and bakers of wedding cakes will be spared temptation.

Health and Human Services and the Justice Department have attracted the most attention so far, but the fanatics are in all departments: the drive for "school choice," for example, is a campaign for publicly funded religious education.  Religious extremists are pervasive in the Republican Party, at all levels of government, working to deprive the rest of us of out civil rights.

No local stonings nor autos-da-fé have been reported from Kansas or Alabama so far, but religious extremists enjoy close cooperation with the NRA.  They are extremely well-armed.

The Perils of Religious Extremism

Religious extremists are threatening our American way of life.  They are not immigrants: they are homegrown.  They are Christians.

Supreme Court candidate Neil M. Gorsuch found in favor of the Hobby Lobby plaintiffs, allowing private employers to claim religious beliefs as justification for denying the legal rights of their employees.  He can be counted on to let business owners discriminate against any customers who don't meet their "moral standards."  Opposition to abortion, of course, was a precondition for his nomination.

Betsy DeVos, nominee for Secretary of Education, supports school vouchers — long a goal of religious institutions seeking government subsidies for their indoctrination of the young.  She supports taxpayer funding for "Christian Academies" that disparage science, nurture authoritarian mindsets, and provide a convenient escape from integrated public schools.  Just add Jerry Falwell Jr. to direct the accreditation of for-profit colleges, like the vast online cash cow milked by his own Liberty University, and the educational Apocalypse is complete.

At yesterday's National Prayer Breakfast, Tr*mp promised to overturn the Johnson Amendment, which has forbidden political activity by churches since the Eisenhower administration.  Granted, the churches already actively endorse candidates without much government interference, but overturning Johnson would free those tax exempt organizations to spend tax deductible contributions on political campaigns.

Tr*mp's moral compass points unerringly up his own ass, but he has Pence to show him the way.  Religious bigots are much too important a segment of the bigot population for any right wing demagogue to ignore.

Tweets

I broke down and signed up for a twitter account: @vicworld_org. It probably won't last long — there's not much I can say in less than 140 characters.  Here are some recent tweets:

How many more altar boys must be diddled before #Ireland legalizes #abortion?

#Robert_Gates to #Boy_Scouts: eventually, you'll have to accept #gay leaders. (Note: #pedophile quotient will be unchanged.)

How did the #Justice_Department get interested in #FIFA? Is the #NFL worried about competition?

Re: #FIFA scandal - Will money laundering US bankers be prosecuted too?

#Bernie! deserves more major media attention.  #Hillary's move to the left remains suspect.

From my perspective, there never can be too many #Republican #candidates! The more, the loonier!

Congratulations to the people of #El_Salvador on the beatification of my longtime hero, #Oscar_Romero. Thank you, Pope Frank!

#Brelo stood on the hood shooting through the windshield. Is that the action of someone afraid of "great bodily harm"? I don't think so!

The Supremes

Abortion protest

In unanimously striking down the Massachusetts 35 foot protest barrier around the entrances to its abortion providers, the Court defended the free speech of protestors — and free speech should be defended.  The Court also suggested that harassment and physical abuse continue to be against Massachusetts law, and that those laws should continue to be enforced.

It may be wise for the Massachusetts legislature to have a fresh look at its laws defining the nature of harassment, and making certain that it's police forces (especially in Boston, where the worst of the crazies congregate) are trained and willing to hook up verbal abusers of vulnerable women.

Agency Fee

The Court carved out a "narrow" exception allowing certain employees represented by labor unions to stop paying for services provided to them by unions — essentially allowing them to become "free riders."

One obvious solution is to deny the deadbeats the benefits of the union contract, and force them to negotiate and fight employer abuses on their own.  How would the conservative Justices vote on that one?

Hobby Lobby

Corporations no longer are just "persons" who may enter into contracts while protecting shareholders with limited liability.  Since the Citizens United decision, they are "persons" who may dump unlimited funds into election campaigns.  Now a corporation can be a "person" who has a "religious belief."  Gag me with a spoon!

If one of the right-wing Justices were suddenly to drop dead while Obama still is President, I would not be among the mourners.  (NOTE:  This is not a suggestion that somebody assassinate one of those assholes, so please don't blame me if it happens.  If anybody reads this blog, it's unlikely that she or he owns a gun, or knows how to construct a bomb, or grow anthrax or whatever.  I certainly don't.)

Odds (against us) and Ends

Edward Snowden

Congratulations to Edward Snowden on getting out of the goddamned airport.  I hate airports, and I don't suppose Russian airports are any better than American airports.  Five weeks at an airport just might cause PTSD.

Weiner and his weiner

Frankly, I never understood the allure of "virtual" sex — but, to each his (or her) own.  Weiner says a lot of the right things, but on the other hand, Weiner's sleazy reputation might make him a weaker mayor than he otherwise might have been.  Also, as I recall, he didn't accomplish jack shit while he was in Congress.  I don't get to vote in NYC, but I kind of like Bill DeBlasio.  The super-rich have had a good run under Bloomberg, but it's time for the poor to have a turn.

Scraping away at abortion rights

Are the "scientists" claiming that a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks the same "scientists" denying climate change, or just their close (and inbred) cousins?  It would be very nice indeed if scarcely any women needed to seek abortions, but that's not in our immediate future.  Let's hope that the free availability of Plan B will change that equation.

Bradley Manning

Army Colonel/Judge Denise Lind, I suppose, kind of "compromised" when she found the kid not guilty of aiding the enemy but still guilty of violating the WWI Espionage Act, one of the most atrocious pieces of legislation ever enacted in the United States but, sadly, never repealed.  Even more sadly, Our President likes it.  How did he ever get a degree in Constitutional law?

Eliot Spitzer

Okay, back to NYC — Wall Street, women's groups, and city unions are ganging up in a couple of superPACS to defeat Spitzer's run for Comptroller.  Wall Street is understandable — he messed them up big time when he was the state AG.  The women, I guess, just don't like men who patronize top shelf call girls.  As for the unions, I'm not certain — but since they endorsed Scott Stringer before Spitzer got in the race, it may be they're hoping that loyalty will bring rewards.

The Corporate Income Tax

Obama isn't saying which corporate tax loopholes he would close to make cutting the top corporate income tax rate from 35% to 28% revenue neutral, but we can be pretty sure few if any of those changes would be enacted into law, and that a bunch of new loopholes would be added in short order.  Was this Larry Summers' idea?  I wouldn't be surprised.

Mourdock Misunderstood

Richard Mourdock, Senate candidate in Indiana, has been getting a bum rap.  In asserting that victims of rape who become pregnant should not be eligible for abortion, he was offering a genuine profession of his religious faith.  Here in America we're supposed to appreciate expressions of religious faith by candidates for office.

God, as Mourdock knows well, is omniscient and omnipotent.  Omniscient, God obviously knows in advance when some sicko is preparing to rape an unsuspecting woman.  If the rape goes off as planned, it is clear that the omnipotent God was cool with it.

Granted, some Christians believe in free will (albeit not necessarily with respect to women freely exercising reproductive choices.)  As for Mourdock, if he loses the election, I'm sure he will humbly accept his loss as God's will.

The Trouble with Todd

Todd Akin — yes, that Todd Akin, the Missouri Congressman and Senatorial candidate — has not withdrawn his candidacy despite great pressure from everyone in the Republican establishment from Karl Rove (or is it really Mitt Romney at the top?) on down.  Okay, Akin said some very misguided things about how women's bodies respond to rape — but would a substitute candidate drawn from his primary challengers take a more "moderate" stand on abortion?

Nope.

The problem with Akin is not that he's too conservative.  The problem is that he's a moron.  His potential replacements, on the other hand, just never had the opportunity to put their feet so far into their mouths that those feet emerged through their respective assholes.

Okay, maybe that's wrong.  Maybe they were better trained to stick to the approved talking points.

I don't think much of Clair McCaskill (remember Corker-McCaskill?), but I'd hate to see the Democrats lose their Senate majority — and I suppose it ought to be easier to beat a moron like Akin than somebody with a few brains.  Still, I don't believe for a minute that the "withdrawal" of funding for Akin's campaign is real.  Yet another well-funded SuperPac will fill the breach in short order.

Morons For American Prosperity?

Sexual Politics

CNN informs me that Rick Santorum just won Alabama and Mississippi — albeit the count shows Romney and Gingrich not very far behind. Whatever. It's time to look at the politics of abortion, contraception, and (not yet mentioned in this campaign) masturbation.

For all human groups, throughout history, survival has depended on numbers. When two tribes had to work out who got the river valley and who got the desert, the big tribe got the prime real estate and the small tribe got to wander in the wilderness. It's no different with religions. The more adherents to a faith, the more likely it is to survive. "Be fruitful and multiply," sayeth the Lord. If you don't, those damnable Egyptians or Hittites or whatever will wipe you out.

Increasing your group's numbers depends on keeping your women pregnant. Naturally, it follows that religions competing with other religions for population will have "moral" prohibitions against birth control, abortion, and that "sin of Onan," which "wastes" what could be used to keep the group's women perpetually pregnant (and don't forget to kill the queers.)

In the United States, "mainstream" Protestants, secularized Jews and Catholics, and those with no particular interest in any religion are failing to be fruitful and multiply, perhaps under the impression that they can do more for one or two children than for seven or eight — while traditional Catholics and Muslims, Mormons, and many Evangelicals are breeding like bunnies.

In a democracy, the breeders, eventually, will win.