edit: The link at the bottom provides a great look into the man Dr. Tiller was, the life he ended up choosing (he wanted to be a dermatologist originally), and the reason why the loss of abortion providers is a travesty for womens' health: "Prenatal testing without prenatal choices is medical fraud," he declared.
The title of this post was originally going to be "American Talibangelist" and was going to focus mainly on the far right xtian, pro-life, and conservative communities that made possible the charged atmosphere that led to Dr. Tiller's murder. But I'm sure you can find enough posts, blogs, and articles out there exploring the subject or bashing on religion and xtianity in general.
Instead, I decided to take a piece of advice from President Obama and not automatically demonize and caricaturize the opposing side. I spent hours last night exploring conservative and pro-life blogs, trying to see this issue from the other side. Most of it, I have to admit, was disheartening at best. I find that many of them really are close minded and unable to grasp the irony and fallacies of many of their arguments and positions. But at the very least, I can sort of see where they are coming from now. Putting aside the rabid "he deserved worse!" and "so that's one down...who's next?" crowd, I can understand that if you believe life starts at conception, then an abortion doctor really is an abhorrent occupation for any person to have.
The most positive aspect was the one moment of civil discourse I had on one of the most hardcore sites out there (prolifeblogs.com I think it was called). Although he and I will not see eye-to-eye on most issues and I don't think either one of us convinced the other of anything, we had several back and forths that were passionate, respectful, and sincere. In the midst of his compatriots demonizing Dr. Tiller and the "atheist liberals" and my own brand of sarcastic comebacks (which nobody at all got, leading me to finally state plainly that I'm NOT a xtian and explain why), we posted several civil public comments to one another. I hope his fellow anti-abortionists see it and it gives at least one of them pause.
Because, I fear, Dr. Tiller is not the end of the story. During Bill Clinton's presidency, our first pro-choice president, seven different people were murdered by the anti-abortionist movement. There were 12 bombings and arson incidents in the same time period. During Shrub's administration, there was 1 bombing and no murders. It seems that with POTUS Obama in office, our second pro-choice president, the anti-abortion movement has once again stepped up it's rhetoric, hate speech, and villification of the opposing side. You can only call a group baby killers, murderers, and satanists for so long before someone on your side decides to take action.
It is unfortunate, but these actions happen to be one variety of terrorism that actually works. The unending rhetoric and nonstop harassment, threats, and actual acts of violence have made abortion education nearly nonexistent for medical students and doctors. Fewer and fewer medical students and Ob-Gyns decide to even take the route to provide abortions. The risk to their lives, their careers, and their families is just not worth it. The result is that nearly 1/3rd of metro areas and practically all rural counties do not have an abortion provider. Many women have to drive hours to reach their closest provider.
If you take a look at the old guard of abortion doctors, the first thing that jumps out at you is that they're old! I spoke to one many years back at a medical conference. We spent a few hours in a bar knocking back and boy, did he have stories to tell. Most of the current abortion doctors made their career choice during a time when abortions were synonymous not with killing babies or an unending culture war but with saving womens' lives. They vivdly remember the time before Roe v Wade: blood-spattered apartment rooms, infections from women jamming sticks up their womb, deaths from fetal deformity or disease that were left in the mother, etc.
Most doctors who provide 2nd and 3rd trimester abortions are in their 6o's or older. When they retire, it is quite possible that there will be few if any younger doctors to step in and take their place.
So this is the battle line that has been drawn. If you truly care about women's rights and the correctness of allowing medically trained doctors and practitioners to decide their options (not politicians, pundits, or religious leaders with no health training or education); if you believe that womens' health doctors, nurses, volunteers, and staff should be allowed to go about their careers and lives without a constant threat of intimidation and violence hanging over their heads; if you believe that the barrage of rhetoric equating such people with murderers, baby killers, satanists, and the Holocaust and urging anti-abortionists to take action is responsible for creating the type of charged atmosphere that made Dr. Tiller's death and the murder of 7 other doctors and healthcare providers possible....then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!
Attend a vigil for Dr. Tiller.
Donate your time or money to an organization that fights for womens' rights and reproductive rights.
Get active in the conversation: write letters to your news media or representatives when you see this story framed in the context of an isolated incident. Explain that it is in fact the latest in a long history of violence and intimidation against healthcare providers. Ask that POTUS Obama enforce Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which was enacted after the 1993 murder of Dr. David Gunn but languished under Bush.
Thank a healthcare provider! These people toil under constant stress from the nutjobs who daily protest and threaten their place of work and residencies. Let them know that their providing a valuable and necessary service to ensure women's health is appreciated. Volunteer at a clinic if you have the balls to walk in their shoes.
Do not just post about this or bash on the anti-abortionists and leave it at that. Their dedication, organization, and propoganda machine is immense and not to be underestimated. As more and more people forget about the years before Roe v Wade, more and more people will dismiss the hellish conditions described by that doctor I met and the easier it will be for the anti-abortion movement to convince Americans to go back to that time. So stand up and do something.
So I posted about this back during the Presidential Election: the unconscionable police brutality in St Paul during the Republican National Convention. Journalists getting arrested, "pre-emptive" raids on houses deemed headquarters of potential protest orgs, crowd herding with ubiquitous use of pepper spray and tear gas, armies of black-clad faceless robocops with batons and horses, hundreds of trumped up charges against peaceful protesters (conspiracy to riot), and a $10 million dollar insurance policy taken out by the RNC for potential lawsuits against St Paul police for unlawful arrests and police violence.
Well in the course of my computer updating and backing-up, I ran across this track by one of my favorite artists, Sage Francis. This song literally played every other day on my laptop/ipod/car stereo during the end of 2008.
It's easy to forget the atmosphere of utter despair and oppression that existed just 6 months ago. Criticize President Obama all you want, but the fact of the matter is that this country is both viewed and operating under far more positive conditions than under the previous administration. So I feel like I've almost gotten complacent...but this video always gets my blood fired up again. Stay aware and stay involved. Enjoy.
<edit> I always get rhymey when I'm not sober. Don't get me wrong: I assume many police officers are decent folk who have a genuine desire to help people. But somewhere deep down, there is always going to be that element of power hunger. Because they can tell me "I'm just doing me job" or "I only want to help people...putting my life on the line to do so." Well, you know what? I'd believe them if they were a fireman or an EMT. I've just seen, heard about, and personally experienced way too many policemen on power trips to ever fully trust them. And when I see a video like the one above, it just rubs my animosity towards them even more raw.
Malcolm X, Bob Marley, and Gandhi all died before their time John Lennon, MLK, and two Kennedy's shot down in their prime
There's a dozen too many incidents for it to be pure coincidence
Buck the status quo and your children are bound to lose their innocence jesus christ walked on the water that they used to board later Pro-Americans condoning torture in the name of lord n savior They're all sheep in sheep's clothing, every single one
Terrified xenophobic primitives busy clutching god and gun
I clutch a clenched fist, resist, and raise it towards the sun The next step in human evolution, so my work is never done
Simultaneously stirring sixth senses and opening third eyes Labeled unpatriotic whenever you call bullshit on their lies
The powers that be will never have complete power over me Stay educated and aware, keep pushing: we'll eventually be free
We're still debating over the name: probably going with either Nature's Wash or Pure Wash. These are the mockups we have now.
The second one down was just the leaves in the circle but I decided to add the swishy wave from the 3rd one onto it. So right now I'm thinking the font from the top pic with the icon from the 2nd or some variation of that 2nd icon. Leaning a bit towards Nature's Wash and maybe have Pure Wash be one of our product/product lines. As for slogan, I've only been thinking about it late at night when I'm exhausted and extra-ridiculous so they've been things like "Nature's Wash. It's like a waterfall punching dirt in the face." or "Nature's Wash. Your dirt is our bitch."
Not exactly professional. Although I did stumble on this last night and may run with it: "A naturally clean that actually cleans."
Any comments, feedback, suggestions, etc would be appreciated. We had our first big sale yesterday: a woman with 4 sons, a husband who works for waste management for the city, a broken washer/dryer as of these last 2 weeks, and two cats who love to piss on everything. So my Monday was spent doing 275 lbs of truly rank, foul laundry. Which in a way was good, since it was trial by fire. I learned several lessons that I never even thought of before while this business was still in the idea and theoretical stage.
I'm excited. Next time I'll reveal the secret weapon that we're going to bank on as one of our company's very unique and actually very cool specialty.
Anyone who is familiar with Stephen Colbert knows the surface character: a raging anti-intellectual, xenophobic, loud, boorish conservative pundit. Think Sean Hannity or Bill Falafel O'Reilly on stupid-steriods.
Well, not so surprisingly, the realization that he is playing an inflated caricature of such right-wing pundits and ditto-heads is lost on many conservatives. An Ohio State study, "The Irony of Satire":
This study investigated biased message processing of political satire in The Colbert Report and the influence of political ideology on perceptions of Stephen Colbert. Results indicate that political ideology influences biased processing of ambiguous political messages and source in late-night comedy. Using data from an experiment (N = 332), we found that individual-level political ideology significantly predicted perceptions of Colbert’s political ideology. Additionally, there was no significant difference between the groups in thinking Colbert was funny, but conservatives were more likely to report that Colbert only pretends to be joking and genuinely meant what he said while liberals were more likely to report that Colbert used satire and was not serious when offering political statements. Conservatism also significantly predicted perceptions that Colbert disliked liberalism. Finally, a post hoc analysis revealed that perceptions of Colbert’s political opinions fully mediated the relationship between political ideology and individual-level opinion.
(-_-) <---This is my surprised face. Irony and satire require a certain level of mental dexterity and cognitive ability, both sorely lacking in your run-of-the-mill, Palin-is-awesome, torture-is-the-American way, Jesus-is-my-copilot, ideological conservative (not to be confused with your intellectual, embarrassed-at-current-GOP conservative). This is why I can go onto Revelife, leave caustic sarcastic comments, and have half of the replies agreeing and commending me.
Even more delicious, if you goto all the blogs and posts referencing this study, you see comment after comment from conservatives adamantly stating one of two beliefs: 1) Colbert means a lot of what he says and liberals just don't "pick up on it" 2) Well, lefties never get it when Limbaugh, Michael Savage, etc. make outrageous remarks and they're only "joking." So clueless lefties always take these hatemongering rants at face value.
This complete and utter inability to both define what satire is and identify it correctly is amazing. To be unable to differentiate a concerted attempt to expose the fallacies of conservative thought through outrageous caricature from those who are actually serious when they go on their hateful diatribes shows the cognitive dissonance and straight-jacket belief systems of present day conservatives. Robert Downey Jr. should go and let them know: "You never go full retard."
And for god's sake, nobody let these hardcore conservatives get their hands on a copy of Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal.
Also, I've decided to start awarding 0 eprops when I leave comments on Revelife.
Thirdly, there's a post on Revelife about whether taking salsa lessons is sinful and an affront to christ...so salsa joins the list of dvds, MMA, action figures, and I can't even remember what else as possible tickets to hell. The following comment had me shitting my pants, rolling on the floor (in my shitted pants) laughing:
will you trip your brothers in Christ up? that is the question. will you cause them to stumble? We live in a society where we tell men to grow up and learn to control their thought life. And we try and try and try. and then try some more. and just when we think that we have it under control we go to the beach and we fail. or we go to a store and are accosted by the magazines in the check out lane. I myself keep eye contact with my wife the entire time i am in the check out lane because it causes me to stumble. Most girls do not realize how easy it is for guys to fail in this portion of their life. They can be the best christian guy you ever met, and a really low cut shirt or really tight pants can send them into a spiraling thought process that leaves them weak crying out to God for forgiveness and help controlling their thought life. its not because they are being depraved, thats how their minds work. so whenever you have a doubt think of us, your brothers and ask yourself weather our spiritual wellfare is less important than how you dress or act. (emphasis added)
Forget the underlying sexism (bitch, it's YOUR fault I lust for you) and implied utter lack of willpower in men...THIS is the reason conservatives can't get satire: their worldview and belief systems are already so outrageously ridiculous and warped that they satirize themselves.
Man...I've been so stressed starting this new business I really needed some good laughs today. Have a great weekend, yall. I'm going to take my mom out to a Mother's Day Eve dinner and give her a hug for allowing me to grow up with the sharp, inquisitive, analytical brain that I did.
P.S.S: Google Ads has the same cognitive dissonance and lack of satirical awareness as conservatives, since they keep popping up ads for Ann Coulter and Newt Gingrich for this page and ads for jesus and church for every single satirical post I put up about religion. Awesome.
So back before I left the wonderful world of bio research, my intended field of advanced (i.e. Ph.D) study was either going to be genetics or ID (infectious diseases). I was quite interested in becoming an epidemiologist. I can pretty much sketch out both the history and the mechanics of the HIV virus right now: God hates gays and blacks. See? I'm that good.
With this wonderful reservoir of knowledge on ID (I love how infectious diseases and intelligent design have the same acronym...both are banes of science/medicine that need to be stamped out mercilessly), I figure I'd do my fellow humans a favor and clear up much of the obfuscation surrounding the much feared swine flu. Because the amazing 24-hour news networks that so many rely upon is, to put it mildly, less than praiseworthy.
What is Swine Flu? Swine flu (H1N1 designation) is a new strain of influenza containing genetic components from pig, bird, and human influenza viruses. It really has nothing to do with sanitation: pigs, despite conventional wisdom, are actually very clean and fastidious animals. Their biology just happens to make them walking petri dishes for the incubation of new virus strains. This is because pigs are the whores of the animal kingdom.
How Do I Avoid Swine Flu? Wash your hands often. Maintain a diet and exercise regime that promotes a healthy lifestyle and strong immune system. If you see someone about to sneeze/cough in your direction, pre-empt them with a quick smack to the face to turn their head in someone else's direction. Make sure to give a sharp kung fu scream simultaneously so they know not to do that again.
Alternatively, you could wear a face mask in public. Or avoid public places altogether and barricade yourself in your home watching FOX news with your hand clutching an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.
How Do I Know If Someone Has Swine Flu? This is difficult to ascertain as it is, at the end of the day, another type of flu. So it would exhibit as common flu symptoms: fever, coughing, sneezing, etc.
Profiling is always a sensitive subject, but there are things you can look for that indicate a higher likelihood the person carries the virus. Does he/she look black, Asian, Latino, or middle eastern? Does the person look poorer than you do? Does the person give you any reason to believe that he has incurred the vengeful wrath of god? Yes to any of these questions means a much higher chance they have swine flu.
In the advanced stages, the symptoms become much more noticeable and unique. The eyes will glaze over. The skin will become pale. Hair will have a greater tendency to fall out in clumps. Joints will stiffen, resulting in jerky shambling movements. Most internal organs will begin to fail and shut down. All higher cognitive functions will become replaced by an overwhelming desire to feed on the flesh of the living.
What Should I Do If I Or Someone I Know Gets Swine Flu? Despite media hype, most common sense practices for a regular flu apply. Stay in bed or at home as much as possible. Get rest. Eat beef soup, garlic, and drink tea, juice, and plenty of water.
The virus is spread from person-to-person mainly through sneezing and coughing so if you do sneeze/cough, do it in a tissue and throw it away. If you don't have one, do it into your sleeve rather than your hand. Wash your hands often with soap or an alcohol-based sanitizer. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, open wounds, and mouth since that's how germs are spread.
If someone you know is displaying late stage symptoms, it is imperative that you separate their head from their body. The brain stem at the base of the skull MUST be severed however possible. Try to avoid hesitating because you know them: at this point of the infection they are no longer your loved ones but a shambling mass of primal feeding and killing instinct.
Alternatively, you can turn around and demand action from your Federal government, doctors, darwin-hugging biologists, and evolution-humping health officials without displaying a single iota of irony-awareness. Yea, I'm looking at you, Governor Rick Perry. And practically every single creationist at Tuesday's debate.
The best thing you can do, however, is calm the fuck down. Turn off the cable news channels. To them, the sky is always falling because they need eyeballs on the screen. The www.cdc.gov site and www.who.int sites are good sources for realistic scientific information.
At this point, we've had about 225 reported cases of H1N1 in the States with 1 death. That's less than .25% fatality rate so far. Worldwide, there have been about 850 laboratory confirmed cases with a fatality rate of about 2%. Until something changes, this is NOT the plague of biblical prophecy.
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