Republicans to Women: Your Bodies, Our Choice

Not so fast says federal Judge, blocking GOP law.

Scott Walker and his "savior" say they know better than women what they should do with their own bodies, health and lives.

Here we are in the 21st century and a major American political party - composed mostly of religious, white men - is still telling women what's best for them.

The forces of fanaticism and ignorance do remain forever busy.

Anti-Choicers Still Just Want to Control Women's Sex Lives

See Angi Becker Stevens

Opposition to abortion today is about the same thing it has always been about: not the humanity and personhood of fetuses, but the humanity and personhood of women

Pro-Nader WI Site Says Roe v. Wade Safer with McCain!

The Proletariat site contends "It seems to me Roe v. Wade will be a lot safer in a McCain than an Obama presidency," promoting Ralph Nader's appearance in Madison tonight.

Is this guy kidding?

From John McCain's site on women's choice:

Human Dignity and the Sanctity of Life Overturning Roe v. Wade John McCain believes Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned, and as president he will nominate judges who understand that courts should not be in the business of legislating from the bench. Constitutional balance would be restored by the reversal of Roe v. Wade, returning the abortion question to the individual states. However, the reversal of Roe v. Wade represents only one step in the long path toward ending abortion.

I have voted for Nader for president before, but I swear some of these pro-Nader people are as deluded and oblivious to facts as the religious right.

Let's hope someone from the Cap Times hits Nader with the question about Nader being concerned that a McCain administration would result in overturning Roe.

Silent Pol Speaks Up, Hits State Rep. for Law Defending Rape Victims

The phantom southside Milwaukee candidate for state assembly, José Guzmán, is at last revealing himself contending with his recruitment by the political operative, Tom Reynolds, the notorious former state senator known for his anti-Catholic views and often bizarre political behavior.

After weeks of silence, Guzmán is meeting criticism of his campaign by finally speaking to the press, and accusing one of his opponents, incumbent Democratic State Rep. Pedro Colón (Eighth Assembly District, Milwaukee), of being "anti-catholic" for his vote for the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims bill, signed into law by Gov. Doyle in March.

Guzmán criticized Colón for his vote, saying Colón voted for "anti-Catholic legislation ... against the people of the 8th Assembly District." [See Guzmán literature above.]

Guzmán is now dropping 100s of pieces of literature in an attempt to appeal to voters in this low-turn out district.

Reynolds is the founder and administrator of his political organization, Clean Sweep Wisconsin, that has been disavowed by both the Democratic and Republican Party establishment.

The Compassionate Care for Rape Victims act guarantees rape and incest victims immediate access to emergency contraception in emergency rooms.

Guzmán has until recently avoided press queries and a questionnaire from the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin as he attempted to avoid mention of his association with the radical Reynolds whom he met at church.

Clean Sweep Wisconsin is running right-wingers in six Democratic Assembly primaries in metropolitan Milwaukee, it was confirmed here July 25th.

The Eighth Assembly District on Milwaukee's south side is the most Catholic district in the state.

Guzmán is running against incumbent Democratic State Rep. Pedro Colón and Laura Manriquez, who tried to have both Colón and Guzmán knocked off the ballot in a challenge that was unanimously rejected and panned by the Wisconsin General Accountability Board earlier this summer.

The Compassionate Care for Rape Victims act was a major victory for women and rape victims, as Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin writes:

Victims of rape or incest deserve immediate access to safe, efficient methods of pregnancy prevention. Compassionate Care for Rape Victims ensures that this occurs by requiring all Wisconsin emergency rooms to provide rape victims with information about and access to emergency contraception.

Guzmán says in his literature that "the founder of Planned Parenthood was a racist who wanted to use abortion to exterminate minority populations”.

Pro-Life Wisconsin Endorses Tom Reynolds' Candidates

via mal contends - Pro-Life Wisconsin announced their candidate endorsements via its Pro-Life Wisconsin Victory Fund political action committee this week.

Five of the six candidates being run by Tom Reynolds' Clean Sweep Wisconsin (CSW) in the Milwaukee-area Democratic primaries are recipients of the "Pro-Life" endorsements, even though the five candidates themselves have not voiced the extreme anti-abortion and other controversial views of CSW's treasurer and mastermind.

The Pro-Life Wisconsin endorsement corroborates the conventional political wisdom that Tom Reynolds' Clean Sweep Wisconsin is running rightwingers in the Democratic primaries, further eroding his already nearly nonexistent credibility.

Reynolds, has been disavowed by establishment Republicans and Democrats alike, and is being investigated by the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board for filing an anonymous and frivolous election challenge to incumbent State Sen. Spencer Coggs (D-Milwaukee).

ProLife Wisconsin stresses “... the ‘no exceptions’ pro-life philosophy ... (position)," said Mary Matuska, president of the Pro-Life Wisconsin Victory Fund PAC.

This position, if enacted as a statute, would outlaw all abortions, even in the event of rape, incest, or protecting a woman's health.

The Clean Sweep Wisconsin-endorsed candidates receiving the Pro-Life Victory Fund endorsement are listed below.

(D-10) - Charisha Allen
(D-15) - Josh Hoisington
(D-16) - David D. King
(D-17) - Samantha H. Bady
(D-20) - Philip Landowski

The Clean Sweep Wisconsin-endorsed candidate, Jose Guzman, running in the Eighth Assembly district on the south side, did not receive a Pro-Life Victory Fund endorsement.

UW's Shapiro, Charo Hit Bush Effort to Limit Women's Reproductive Freedom

A woman's right to choose is dead if John McCain is elected president.

But the Bush administration is fighting to inflict as much damage as possible on women prior to that sickening possibility of choice disappearing, including decreasing the availability of contraception.

From today's Washington Post:

The Department of Health and Human Services is reviewing a draft regulation that would deny federal funding to any hospital, clinic, health plan or other entity that does not accommodate employees who want to opt out of participating in care that runs counter to their personal convictions, including providing birth-control pills, IUDs and the Plan B emergency contraceptive.

"The breadth of this is potentially immense," said Robyn S. Shapiro, a bioethicist and lawyer at the Medical College of Wisconsin. "Is this going to result in a kind of blessed censorship of a whole host of areas of medical care and research?" ... Critics charge that the proposal is the latest example of the administration politicizing science to advance ideological goals. ... Others said the rule could have additional implications, including justifying discrimination against gays, single women or others seeking health care.
"As soon as you have a definition in one part of federal law, it can become the inspiration for the reinterpretation of other statutes," said R. Alta Charo, a lawyer and bioethicist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

McCain is even more anti-choice than Bush. It will be interesting to see where McCain lines up on this initiative.

Is this late initiative intended as a way for McCain to shore support with the religious right, though this would hurt him with political independents?

Or is this George W. Bush just being the fool to whom we have become accustomed?

One thing is certain, all women and all who value women's civil rights should be outraged.

Wisconsin Lacks Women Writers on Politics

Update: Voices too often missing in op-ed land: women's
via mal contends - One of my favorite political sites is WiscOpinion.

But take a look at WiscOpinion and you see a disturbing trend, echoed across the state: Few women writers expressing their political views in blogs.

It's not sexism by WiscOpinion or any other site, it's a lack of women expressing their voices.

Consider another of my favorite sites: Uppity Wisconsin.

I know women writers there, but they write under a pseudomyn, safety being an obvious concern.

There are notable exceptions:

- Milwaukee Rising
- Lost Albatross
- Dane 101

But they are the exceptions. And that's a shame.

Below is WiscOpinion's writers for 7/29/2008; note that some nine-in-ten writers is male.

Not sure what the solution is, but it is most definitely a problem.

7/29/2008
:::PM LINKS:::
Tim Schilke: Not accounting for reality?
Bill Wineke: We have to clean up our lakes
Russell Wallace: Jim Doyle leaving, Barbara Lawton to become governor!
Chris Lato: The GOP joins the Twitter generation
Eric Wentz: Use oil, coal and natural gas now
Mike Ivey: State ranks high for drinking, not for workforce talent
Christa Westerberg: Two steps forward and one step back
Steve Jagler: Imagine: Milwaukee the tax haven?
Michael Rosen: Wisconsin's prison costs crowd out higher education
George Lightbourn: Where are we going?
J.B. Van Hollen: Standing up for public safety in the Wisconsin Supreme Court
Don Pridemore: Virtual schools: Allowing technology and education to come together
Tom Foley: Leading Wisconsin blogger fails U.S. Constitution
Greg Kowalski: A nice comfy trip to Florida in January for free?
:::AM LINKS:::
James Wigderson: Get the lead out!
Dave Zweifel: Minimum markup helps the little guy
Owen Robinson: A gas retailer’s perspective
Ed Garvey: Election polls galore, who do you trust?
Chris Liebenthal: Going BaNaNas
Tracy Coenen: The Blog Net News controversy
John F. Ebbott: County stiffs the poor
William L. McReynolds: Tight economic times require tough choices
Roger Frank Bass: Still scared after all these years
John Nichols: Putting the "I" word on the agenda
Don Huebscher: Eau Claire arena questions far outnumber the answers
Susan Armacost: Abortion ban and human rights
Judy Kirkwood: A proactive Sunday drive

McSexist: McCain's War on Women

The propositon that John McCain will cut into the women's vote in the fall is ludicrous. For insights, see McSexist: McCain's War on Women.

Rice to Confront Authoritarian Afghan about Man Sentenced to Death for Printing Women’s Rights Docs

Imprisoned and sentenced to death for reading and downloading women's rights documents, Sayed Pervez Kambaksh life hangs on international pressure brought to bear on this hell hole of a country where life and liberty are held cheaply.

The Independent has made a cause of the 23-year-old Sayed's wrongful jailing and death sentance, gathering over 61,000 signatures on a petition, causing the British government to register official protests, and pushing Condi Rice into promising to talk to the Afghan strongman, Hamid Karzai.

From the Independent:

Ms Rice, who was in London for talks with Gordon Brown and David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, on the West's Afghanistan strategy said: "I do think that the Afghans understand that there are some international norms that need to be respected. Of course, one has national laws and they're national laws that are in accordance with traditions and religious practice. But there are international norms, and I'll certainly talk to President Karzai about this case." ...

He shares a cell meant for four people with 30 others at the prison in Balkh province where he has been held for more than three months. In that time he has been attacked by Taliban prisoners who have been told by officials that Mr Kambaksh is guilty of blasphemy. His food has been contaminated by guards, he has lost weight, and is traumatised. ...

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Save Pervez! Global protests to save Afghan student from death sentence

Update: Lifeline for Pervez: Afghan Senate withdraws demand for death sentence
In a dramatic volte-face, the Afghan Senate has withdrawn its confirmation of a death sentence on Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, right, the student convicted of blasphemy for downloading a report on women's rights from the internet.

- Sign the Independent's Petition (41,000 and rising)

Save Pervez! Global protests to save Afghan student from death sentence; Worldwide outrage over Afghan sentenced to death for reading article on women's rights.

Afghan protest: 'He just shared an article with friends. What's the problem?'

Sayed Pervez Kambaksh (pictured above) read and printed an article about women's rights, earning him the death sentence from an Afghan religious court. This is the type of democracy Bush has brought to Afghanistan.

Contact your reps:

- U.S. Senate Members
- U.S. House Members

- Sign the Independent's Petition

By Kim Sengupta, Jerome Starkey in Kabul, Anne Penketh and Ben Russell

Friday, 1 February 2008

Afghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai, has been inundated with appeals to save the life of Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, the student journalist sentenced to death after being accused of downloading an internet report on women's rights.

While international protests mounted over the affair, with the British Government saying it had already raised its concerns, hundreds of people marched through the capital, Kabul, demanding Mr Kambaksh's release.

A petition launched yesterday by The Independent to secure justice for Mr Kambaksh had attracted more than 13,500 signatories by last night, and a number of support groups have been set up on the social networking site Facebook with more than 400 joining one group alone.

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The MAeLstrom

[A scan of news articles and commentary on the internet.]

Scooter Libby Love Letters, Washington elite petition judge on behalf of convicted Cheney aide: The Smoking Gun — The Smoking Gun houses the letters asking that Lewis Libby should lie with impunity. Frank Rich writes: But what makes these letters rise above inanity is the portrait they provide of a wartime capital cut adrift from moral bearings. As the political historian Rick Perlstein has written, one of the recurrent themes of these pleas for mercy is that Mr. Libby perjured himself "only because he was so busy protecting us from Armageddon."

Soldiers Haunted by War Struggle to Get Care — Dana Priest and Anne Hull lay out in the Washington Post how troops who are returning from the battlefield with psychological wounds find a mental-health system that makes healing difficult.

More US Personnel Killed in Iraq than Reported — John R Moffett writes at opednews.com that, "The U.S. military has never released complete statistics on contractor casualties or the number of attacks on privately guarded convoys. The military deleted casualty figures from reports ... the military wanted to hide information showing that private guards were fighting and dying in large numbers because it would be perceived as bad news."

Wisconsin Republican Committee Chair May Kill Bill Helping Rape Victims — Mobile’s Take blog notes: “This Bill will allow rape victims in Wisconsin to be given information about and access to emergency contraception in hospital emergency rooms.” The Neanderthal in question who wants to kill the popular rape victim-assistance bill is state Rep. Mark Gundrum (R-New Berlin).

The General’s Report — Seymour M. Hersh writes: “How Antonio Taguba, who investigated the Abu Ghraib scandal, became one of its casualties,” in the New Yorker.

Judge orders domestic surveillance docs public — From ThinkProgress: “Just one day after a news that an internal audit found that FBI agents abused a Patriot Act power more than 1000 times, a federal judge ordered the agency Friday to begin turning over thousands of pages of documents related to the agency’s use of a powerful, but extremely secretive investigative tool that can pry into telephone and internet records.”

The April request from the Electronic Frontier Foundation asked the FBI to turn over documents related to its misuse of National Security Letters, self-issued subpoenas that don’t need a judge’s approval and which can get financial, phone and internet records. Recipients of the letters are forbidden by law from ever telling anyone other than their lawyer that they received the request. Though initially warned initially to use this power sparingly, FBI agents issued more than 47,000 in 2005, more than half of which targeted Americans. Information obtained from the requests, which need only be certified by the agency to be 'relevant' to an investigation, are dumped into a data-mining warehouse for perpetuity."

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