Journalists Required to Donate to Anti-Choicers In Order To Cover Palin’s Speech

By GottaLaff


PayMe McBlabFest is making one of her screeches at a fundraiser for the "faith-based" anti-choice group Heroic Media. And the press must pay admission in order to cover the event.

And who exactly is it who is intruding into the lives of U.S. citizens again? Oh, that's right. The "lamestream media" aren't really citizens unless they show their papers, so they have no freedoms. Only PayMe and her clan have them:

[I]n order to cover Palin’s speech, the Austin-American Statesman reports that journalists will have to make a contribution to Heroic Media:

Restrictions: Heroic Media will try to prohibit video and audio recordings of Palin’s appearance, and news organizations wishing to cover her speech must buy a ticket, the proceeds of which will go to Heroic Media.

[...] Earlier this year, after conservatives criticized Palin’s $100,000+ fee to speak at the Tea Party convention, she said she would donate the proceeds to “the cause.” Perhaps that’s what she is trying to get the media to do as well.

I posted about another event to be held on May 12th at which McBlabFest is charging the press:

The high-priced tickets for the May 12th event are still quite plentiful. For the rest of this week, WIND is just giving the tickets away. From 4:00pm-5:00pm, those looking for tickets need only show up at a given Merlin shop each day this week. The first 25 listeners to stop by the Merlin locations each day will receive a free pair of tickets to see Sarah Palin speak in Rosemont and a $30.00 gift certificate to be used towards service at a Merlin 200,000 Mile Shop. [...]

In a related note, by request of Sarah Palin's people, no Chicago press or media members are being easily allowed into the event. Those media outlets who wish to be there, will have to buy the expensive tickets themselves.[

As you can see, at that event, they are giving seats away along with gift certificates. Maybe the media contributions, should there be any, will compensate for the losses. So much for "free press".

If you recall, PayMe also pre-screens questions. I'm beginning to think she has a few control issues.

Meantime, who exactly are these "Heroic" types?

Think Progress:

The group’s Internet strategy tries to direct Google users to an anti-choice website:

Heroic Media utilizes an online strategy to purchase top listings on search engines, such as google, so when teens “google” the word “abortion,”… “I think I’m pregnant,” … or “terminate pregnancy,” one of the top web sites they’ll see is our partner web site http://www.teenbreaks.com

Teenbreaks.com provides information about abortion, communicating with parents, adoption, cutting and more.

Oh, it gets worse. Follow the Think Progress link. And when you get there, they won't even charge you.

Utah House Passes Bill Outlawing Nonmedical Abortions

By GottaLaff

Awhile ago I posted about a Utah bill that criminalized miscarriages. Remember? It got a lot of attention, not only here at TPC, but in the media:

A bill passed by the Utah House and Senate this week and waiting for the governor's signature, will make it a crime for a woman to have a miscarriage, and make induced abortion a crime in some instances. [...]

While the bill does not affect legally obtained abortions, it criminalizes any actions taken by women to induce a miscarriage or abortion outside of a doctor's care, with penalties including up to life in prison. [...]

In addition to criminalizing an intentional attempt to induce a miscarriage or abortion, the bill also creates a standard that could make women legally responsible for miscarriages caused by "reckless" behavior.

Today we have a postscript:

The bill still would make abortions not performed by a doctor through a medical procedure illegal. [...]

The new version says a woman is not guilty of criminal homicide if the abortion is caused by a reckless act of the woman.

So as it now stands, if a woman miscarries because she crashes into a tree while skiing, she's in the clear.

How compassionate.

AUDIO: Lawmaker denies he said disabled kids are punishment from God

By GottaLaff

Earlier today I posted about a lawmaker who, it was reported, said disabled children are God’s punishment to women who have aborted their first pregnancy.

Now you can hear his response:



So God made nature, and nature is the culprit, but if you had an abortion, you are the culprit, because nature made you do it, but God made nature do it, but God had nothing to do with it.

Clear?

UPDATE: For more, go here:

"The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children. In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There's a special punishment Christians would suggest." [...]

"It's nature's take on vengeance, it's not God," Marshall told WTOP. "It's a natural consequence. You're taking a muscle that's tight to hold the pregnancy in place and you are rupturing it, and it injures the muscle so in future pregnancies, it's not as strong."

"This is nature talking to us, our limits in nature." he says. "It's not God throwing lightning bolts down at people."

H/t: Gr8RDH

Lawmaker: Disabled kids are god's punishment

By GottaLaff



Yesterday I posted about a Utah law that criminalizes miscarriage. Yes, you read that right.

Seems Big Government is fine and dandy when it comes to eliminating abortion rights, despite the fact that freedom of choice is, you know, legal.

Apparently, that's hard for one Virginia lawmaker to accept:

RICHMOND – Western Prince William Del. Bob Marshall, R-13th, says disabled children are God’s punishment to women who have aborted their first pregnancy.

This doesn't sound like a guy who likes kids. Love the blastocyst, hate the child.... I wondered if any moms will ask him why he considers their son or daughter a punishment. Or any son or daughter.

“The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children,” said Marshall, a Republican.

“In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There’s a special punishment Christians would suggest.”

How Christian of him. How loving toward his fellow human.

I don't think Mother Nature would appreciate his attitude.

Delegate Brenda Pogge, R-Williamsburg, has joined Marshall in co-sponsoring a budget amendment to eliminate state funding for Planned Parenthood. [...]

The press conference was held by a group called Virginia Christian Action. Its members presented a petition calling on Gov. Bob McDonnell, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to stop funding for Planned Parenthood. All three top officials are Republican.

The petition was signed by a number of prominent Christian leaders, including the Rev. Jonathan Falwell of Lynchburg and the Rev. Pat Robertson of Virginia Beach.

Remember, Pat R. was the same dingbat who refused to let me use the words "toilet paper" in a joke for a ventriloquist's dummy that I wrote for his Family Channel a few years back.

Now that's a guy whose judgment we can all trust.

Here's another one:

[Dean Nelson, executive director of the Network of Politically Active Christians] suggested that the organization be called “Klan Parenthood,” saying that the group’s founder, Margaret Sanger, made racist comments in the 1930s and that the organization has shown a “willingness to take donations from people who are racist.”

How Christian of him.

But Jessica Honke, director of public policy for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, said the only state funding Planned Parenthood receives is from Medicaid reimbursements.

[The Rev. Joe Ellison, vice president of the Council on Biblical Principles] said he was “declaring war against Planned Parenthood.”

Conservatives seem to have a real obsession with violence. I'm no expert on religion, but my guess is that Jesus would not approve.

Utah Bill Criminalizes Miscarriage

By GottaLaff

Incrementally, inch by inch, law by law, the anti-choicers are trying to take away women's reproductive rights:

A bill passed by the Utah House and Senate this week and waiting for the governor's signature, will make it a crime for a woman to have a miscarriage, and make induced abortion a crime in some instances.

According Lynn M. Paltrow, executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, what makes Utah's proposed law unique is that it is specifically designed to be punitive toward pregnant women, not those who might assist or cause an illegal abortion or unintended miscarriage. [...]

While the bill does not affect legally obtained abortions, it criminalizes any actions taken by women to induce a miscarriage or abortion outside of a doctor's care, with penalties including up to life in prison. [...]

In addition to criminalizing an intentional attempt to induce a miscarriage or abortion, the bill also creates a standard that could make women legally responsible for miscarriages caused by "reckless" behavior.

Using the legal standard of "reckless behavior" all a district attorney needs to show is that a woman behaved in a manner that is thought to cause miscarriage, even if she didn't intend to lose the pregnancy. Drink too much alcohol and have a miscarriage? Under the new law such actions could be cause for prosecution.[...]

Such a standard could even make falling down stairs a prosecutable event, such as the recent case in Iowa where a pregnant woman who fell down the stairs at her home was arrested under the suspicion she was trying to terminate her pregnancy.

This reminds me of the Ugandan anti-gay bill:

The government of Uganda is considering passing a law to execute gay people. Execute as in by hanging a, quote, “serial offender” or an HIV-positive person who commits same sex act. If enacted, this law would also impose a three-year prison sentence on anyone who knows of a gay person in the country but doesn‘t report that gay person to the government within 24 hours.

Here's the truth of the matter:

Paltrow says this bill puts a lie to the idea that the pro-life movement cares about women.

"For all these years the anti-choice movement has said ‘we want to outlaw abortion, not put women in jail, but what this law says is ‘no, we really want to put women in jail.'"

Blastocysts matter. The rest of us? Not so much.

H/t: Dawgs529

Oklahoma abortion law gets struck down

Sounds reasonable, but....

Another Oklahoma abortion law was ruled Friday to be unconstitutional.

The 2009 law was intended to prevent a mother from picking the gender of her child through abortions.

It made it illegal for a doctor to do the procedure if the doctor knew a woman’s sole reason was she wanted a baby of a different sex. Attorneys said worldwide most abortions done for gender reasons involve female fetuses.

Oklahoma County District Judge Dan Owens ruled Friday that legislators put into the law multiple subjects unrelated to its underlying purpose. He ruled the law violated a requirement in the state constitution that legislation cover a single subject.

(snip)

The law also would have required doctors to report detailed information about abortions to the state Health Department, including the age, marital status and education level of patients. An opponent of the law, the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, said the requirements would have cost more than $250,000 a year to implement.

"The government has no business running a grand inquisition into the private lives of Oklahoma women,” said Jennifer Mondino, an attorney for the center, which filed the legal challenge to the law on behalf of two Oklahoma women.

Atlanta Anti-Abortion Billboards: Black Children Are An "Endangered Species"

By GottaLaff

"It's ingenious"? Really? That's not the word that comes to mind when I look at that billboard:

The reaction from black leaders has been mixed, but the "Too Many Aborted" campaign, which so far is unique to only Georgia, is drawing support from other anti-abortion groups across the country.

"It's ingenious," said the Rev. Johnny Hunter, national director of the Life Education and Resource Network, a North Carolina-based anti-abortion group aimed at African-Americans that operates in 27 states. "This campaign is in your face, and nobody can ignore it."

These zealots are outright discriminatory. You can't get much more blatant than this:

The effort is sponsored by Georgia Right to Life, which also is pushing legislation that aims to ban abortions based on race.

So white abortions pass muster? How about Latina ones? Or Asian? What other things might they ban based on race?

Will they encourage more births based on race, too?

"The language in the billboard is using messages of fear and shame to target women of color," said Leola Reis, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Georgia. [...]

In 2008, Issues4Life, a California-based group working to end abortion in the black community, lobbied Congress to stop funding Planned Parenthood, calling black abortions "the Darfur of America."

Pro-Life Action League Executive Director Eric Scheidler said a race-based strategy for anti-abortion activists has gotten a fresh zeal, especially in the wake of the historic election of the country's first black president, Barack Obama, who supports abortion rights.

"Fresh zeal". Somehow that sounds especially crass, doesn't it? "Fresh zeal". How nice for them that they're so energized. So... zealous.

The next time some conservative insists that there's nothing race-based in their condemnation of all things Obama, please feel free to share this post with them.

"To use racist arguments to try to bait black people to get them to be anti-abortion is just disgusting," said Guy-Sheftall, who teaches women's history and feminist thought at the historically black women's college.

Maybe we should ban anti-choice groups by race. And age. And height. And weight. And gender. And everything.

H/t: Ellen

Don't Palin fans know they need to live up to their bumperstickers?

By GottaLaff

Celtic Diva nails it again. I'll give you a couple of excerpts, but go over to her place for some elaboration:

[M]y good friend (I'll call him "E") had called three times, which is unlike him. [...]

Nothing quite like being nearly sideswiped at 65mph with your child in the car!

The idiot woman with the "Choose Life" & "Palin 2012" bumper stickers on her BMW at least stopped her cellphone conversation long enough to flip me off after nearly slamming into me.

...no turn signal either, of course. [...]

The issue here isn't even that this woman made several bonehead moves on the road...we all screw up occasionally. The outrageous part of the story is that SHE put a 5-month-old and his father in danger by breaking the law and driving like a drunk woman. Then, SHE gave HIM the finger like it was HIS fault!

Preachy McFraudLips' devotees are following in the footsteps of their half-governor, all show and no go. What they lack are ghost writers and palm Sharpies.

Hyp. O. Crites.

Focus on the Family to air second ad during Super Bowl pre-game

By GottaLaff

My previous posts on this subject are here (scroll).

So!

One Super Bowl spot wasn't enough.

Nor was collaborating with CBS on writing the ads enough (something that CBS does with no other advertiser).

Now Focus on the Family is getting outright piggy. Their second ad-- yes, second-- will air during the pre-game show, starring the Tebows:

More details on the organizations ads:

Although Focus on the Family won’t reveal its ads’ details, CEO Jim Daly says the original ad was rejected by CBS. In it, Pam Tebow, who was advised by a doctor to have an abortion for medical reasons when pregnant with her son, said, “Both of our lives were at risk.”

“They felt that was too much,” he says. “So we dropped the line. We didn’t fight them.” The word “abortion” is never used.

The ad is “an open discussion on the sanctity of human life — not just the issue of abortion,” Daly says. It was made for less than $100,000 with “a bit of humor in it — in fitting with the Super Bowl theme.”

I bet it's a real laugh riot. Maybe they'll even do a CBS Tebow sit-com spin-off, "The Peoples' Anti-Choice Awards".

Oh, and in the interest of fairness, since CBS won't air this Planned Parenthood pro-choice response ad, TPC will:

VIDEO- Raging Grannies Rip CBS Anti-Choice Super Bowl Ad: "Corporate Bull S***"

By GottaLaff



I lerve these women!

Raging Grannies of South Florida tear CBS a new one, in no uncertain terms, over its decision to run an anti-choice ad, a commercial from the Christian right-wing extremist group, Focus On The Family, during next Sunday's Super Bowl. This savage song parody, set to the tune of "Three Blind Mice", is part of the Women's Media Center "What Does CBS Stand For?" campaign .

Straightforward, to the point, honest. Now that's Must-See Tee Vee (apologies to NBC).

Previous posts on this topic here.

VIDEO- Super Bowl Ad Watch: Is Tim Tebow's Birth Story Even True?

By GottaLaff

This video is from MSNBC’s News Live, broadcast Feb. 1, 2010.

All my ranty posts on this subject can be found here.

Now my Twitter pal Liliana Segura sheds some new light on the veracity (or not) of the original story of the miraculous birth of "Christian extraordinaire, Tim Tebow":

Since the Tebow controversy broke, the official policy has supposedly been revised to allow advertisements from other advocacy groups as well. Yet this weekend, CBS rejected an ad from the gay dating site called ManCrunch.com, on the grounds that it "is not within the Network's Broadcast Standards for Super Bowl Sunday." [my post, including video of the ad in question, here]

Glaring hypocrisy? Absolutely.

But back to Tebow. What if his Focus on the Family-endorsed story isn't exactly true?

In a series of new interviews, the first of which was given to RadarOnline, high-profile attorney Gloria Allred argues that Pam Tebow's heart-warming story omits a rather significant detail that renders the whole thing suspicious: Namely, the fact that abortion was illegal in the Philippines in 1987. Indeed, abortion has been illegal in the Philippines since the 1930s -- even in cases of rape or incest or if the mother's health is in danger. [...]

Speaking to MSNBC's Tamron Hall this morning, Allred called the Focus on the Family ad "misleading," arguing, "[Pam Tebow] could have gone to prison for two to 6 years if she'd had an abortion." [...]

"If this ad airs and fails to disclose that abortions were illegal at the time Ms. Tebow made her 'choice,' then I intend to file a formal complaint of misleading advertising with those federal commissions," she added.

Then Liliana goes on to make a very important point: We haven't even seen this ad yet, but it has already had an impact... without having had one airing.

And after it does finally air, it will get 24/7 coverage on the newsotainment shows, the punditiots will have a field day, and the anti-choicers will have saturated the Tee Vee Machine again... without having to pay one thin dime.

Please read the entire piece here.

A Super Bowl ad we can do without

By GottaLaff

This morning on MSNBC, Alex Witt and Courtney Hazlett were analyzing past Super Bowl ads and why they were unsuccessful.

One ad in particular was targeted for having racist undertones. Hazlett opined that Super Bowl ads bomb when they are politically divisive. Divisive ads just won't do, they're a big no-no. She was emphatic about that.

However.

Not a word was uttered about the Focus on the Family's anti-choice spot. The very same one that Preachy McFacebook defended. Not. One. Word.

Call me crazy, but IMHO, the Tebow ad is just a tad politically divisive.

Which brings me to Tim Rutten's take:

The Super Bowl, which is this country's most-watched television event, also has evolved into the world's premier showcase for video advertising. Until now, though, the networks always have declined to accept issue-oriented or political spots. In recent years, for example, they've turned down ads from the liberal activist group MoveOn.org and the United Church of Christ. [...]

Tim Tebow, and his mother, Pam [...] will describe how, while working as a missionary in the Philippines and seven months pregnant with Tim, she contracted dysentery and fell into a coma. When she awoke, according to her account, doctors said the drugs they'd used to treat her virtually guaranteed a life-threatening stillbirth. They advised an abortion. She declined out of religious conviction.

So she made a--Oh, what's that word again? Oh yeah-- choice.

Is there really a difference between this sort of Super Bowl ad and the other 60-odd trying to sell you beer or cars or computers? Yes. One is a pitch; the other is proselytizing. We suffer the former as the price of life in a consumer society; we abhor the latter as a coarse invasion of privacy. There are moments when we open ourselves to moral persuasion, and moments when we're entitled to simple recreation. It's the sort of distinction on which civility relies. [...]

The Tebows' story is a tribute to this country's respect for choice -- though somebody else will have to pay to get that message across.

Unless, of course, their message is rejected.

VIDEO: Gay dating site's Super Bowl ad rejected by CBS

By GottaLaff



Love is offensive. Oh, sorry. Love is offensive if it's not between a man and a woman. And it will destroy your marriage. I can feel mine ripping apart at the seams as I watch this video. Someone... must... stop... it... now.

But at least anti-choice ads are still acceptable. Just ask Mandation McFacebook! Fair and balanced democracy in action:

Super Bowl network CBS rejected an ad Friday from ManCrunch.com, a gay dating Web site.

"After reviewing the ad, which is entirely commercial in nature, our standards and practices department decided not to accept this particular spot," said CBS spokeswoman Shannon Jacobs. "We are always open to working with a client on alternative submissions."

Standards and practices. Sounds like the names of Palin's next two kids.

H/t: BetseyB

CBS's Super Bowl Ad Malfunction

By GottaLaff

Last night I posted Lippy McFakeBlog's latest ghost written Facebook entry defending an anti-choice Super Bowl ad.

I then updated that she got her way, CBS caved, and they'll air the controversial ad.

Via the L.A. Times:

[M]edia analysts are predicting that as much as $500 million in corporate money could flood this year's political campaigns, unleashing a torrent of issue advertising that will force TV executives to weigh the ever-shifting debate about which commercials cross the line.

The CBS Super Bowl commercial, sponsored by the evangelical Christian group Focus on the Family, features University of Florida football star Tim Tebow and his missionary mother, Pam, discussing her decision 23 years ago to continue with her pregnancy despite complications.

How many abortions do you suppose any given corporation has had? Do they use birth control? Does a corporation need parental consent?

The network nonetheless finds itself in a difficult position because, several years ago, CBS rejected ads -- some intended for the Super Bowl -- from left-leaning organizations, including MoveOn.org, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the United Church of Christ, which advocates gay rights.

See how fair and balanced the new and improved free speech is?

Jehmu Greene, president of the New York-based Women's Media Center:

When CBS rejected issue advertisements by liberal groups, George W. Bush was president and a majority of the Federal Communications Commission members were Republicans. Moreover, the network already had had a painful run-in with regulators after it was slapped with stiff fines because Janet Jackson's breast was briefly exposed during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show.

Critics of CBS' policy shift said the network succumbed to financial pressures.

"They are more concerned about their bottom line than fair play," Greene said.

And that's the way it is.

Palin's latest Facebook entry: Don't ask

By GottaLaff


UPDATE (H/t: Dr. President), looks like Barbie got her wish.

Original story:

Wowzers, boys and girls, look who's back! That's two days in a row!

My stars and garters, Barbie must be exhausted from ordering Fakey McGhostWriter around:

Women’s Rights groups, like NOW, commendably call out advertisers and networks for airing sexist and demeaning portrayals of women that lead to young women’s diminished self-esteem and acceptance of roles as mere sexed-up objects.

Speaking of mere sexed-up objects...

I guess those don't count.

What a ridiculous situation they’re getting themselves into now with their protest of CBS airing a pro-life ad during the upcoming Super Bowl game. The ad will feature Heisman trophy winner Tim Tebow and his mom, and they’ll speak to the sanctity of life and the beautiful potential within every innocent child as Mrs. Tebow acknowledges her choice to give Tim life, despite less than ideal circumstances. Messages like this empower women! This speaks to the strength and commitment and nurturing spirit within women. The message says everything positive and nothing negative about the power of women – and life. Evidently, some women’s rights groups like NOW do not like that message.

Socialist fascist gay commie abortionists are like that.

NOW is looking at the pro-life issue backwards. Women should be reminded that they are strong enough and smart enough to make decisions that allow for career and educational opportunities while still giving their babies a chance at life. In my own home*, my daughter Bristol has also been challenged by pro-abortion “women’s rights” groups who don’t agree with her decision to have her baby, nor do they like the abstinence message which she articulated as her personal commitment.

Well, there was that issue of hypocrisy... Oops, did Barbie McFakeBlogger forget about that?

NOW could gain ground and credibility with everyday Americans, thus allowing their pro-women message to be heard by more than just their ardent supporters, if they made wiser decisions regarding which battles to pick. They should call attention to and embrace the Tebow’s message, instead of covertly and overtly disrespecting what Mrs. Tebow, Bristol, and millions of other women have chosen to do (in less than ideal circumstances).

My message to these groups who are inexplicably offended by a pro-woman, pro-child, pro-life message airing during the Super Bowl: please concentrate on empowering women, help with efforts to prevent unexpected pregnancies, stay consistent with your message that for too long women have been made to feel like sex objects in our “modern” culture and that we can expect better in 2010.

See above photos. Oh, and Fakey McBlogSchmutz? Empowering women includes not allowing men (and women) to make decisions about their own bodies for them.

For someone who's not into government sticking its nose into everyone's bee's wax, you sure do have difficulty processing that.

Empowerment also works better when women have the right to privacy.

Oh, one more thing. Abortion is legal.

But don’t let your double standard glare so vividly as to undo some of the good to which you could contribute.

And CBS: just do the right thing. Don’t cave. Have the backbone to run the ad.

To the Tebows: thank you. America is listening. We appreciate you.

Politicizing is so much a part of Lippy McBarbSchmutz that she even has to extend it to the Super Bowl.

How do you solve a problem like Sarah?

*Before I forget, let me remind you what Levi Johnston said about Barbie McLipSchmutz's fine parenting skills:

The Palin house was much different from what many people expect of a normal family, even before she was nominated for vice president. There wasn’t much parenting in that house. Sarah doesn’t cook, Todd doesn’t cook—the kids would do it all themselves: cook, clean, do the laundry, and get ready for school. Most of the time Bristol would help her youngest sister with her homework, and I’d barbecue chicken or steak on the grill.

Even before Palin became John McCain’s running mate, she seemed worried about what a grandchild would do to her political career. According to Johnston, she had a plan for how to handle her daughter’s unexpected pregnancy.

Sarah told me she had a great idea: we would keep it a secret—nobody would know that Bristol was pregnant. She told me that once Bristol had the baby she and Todd would adopt him. That way, she said, Bristol and I didn’t have to worry about anything. Sarah kept mentioning this plan. She was nagging—she wouldn’t give up. She would say, “So, are you gonna let me adopt him?” We both kept telling her we were definitely not going to let her adopt the baby. I think Sarah wanted to make Bristol look good, and she didn’t want people to know that her 17-year-old daughter was going to have a kid.

After the campaign, Johnston watched Palin turn into a different person. The result back home in Alaska was a woman ready to turn in elected office for money.

I can't wait for the next Ghosty McBlogLips post.

Ben Nelson reviewing new abortion language

By GottaLaff

Abortion is legal. Making it even more difficult for those who have to make the gut-wrenching decision to get one is turning freedom of choice upside down.

Side effects of "new abortion language" include higher rates of death, higher health care costs, and emotional devastation.

But who cares about that as long as the blastocyst is happy:

Sen. Ben Nelson tells CNN he has received a compromise proposal on abortion restrictions that look "better than what's in the bill," but that he has to review it, and send it back to anti-abortion interest groups in his home state of Nebraska.

How about sending it to the pro-choice groups? And the pro-already alive and trying to get through an emotional trauma groups? And the pro-abiding by existing law groups?

But what do they know? They're not nearly as affected by Nelson's decision as a cluster of cells is.

EBay stikes items in Dr. Tiller assassin auction

By GottaLaff

I discussed this on the Radio Machine with Angie Coiro, and originally covered the details in this post, including all the nifty merchandise:

Online auction house eBay said it has begun taking down several items of anti-abortion memorabilia posted to raise funds for the defense of Scott Roeder, who is accused of killing a Kansas abortion doctor.

The company said Monday the items violated its listing policies.

What a shame. These would have made such swell stocking stuffers:

--A Bible once owned by the woman who shot Dr. George Tiller in 1993, later convicted in a slew of abortion clinic bombings.

--A Catechism written auotgraphed by an anti-abortion activist.

Who wouldn't want those displayed prominently on the family room coffee table?

$$ for Dr. Tiller's assassin- For sale: Abortion clinic-bomber's prison cookbook

By GottaLaff

Who's up for a good old fashioned bake sale to raise funds an anti-choice assassin ? Weeee!

An Army of God manual. A prison cookbook compiled by a woman doing time for abortion clinic bombings and arsons. An autographed bullhorn.

These are among the items that abortion foes plan to auction on eBay and other Web sites in a fundraiser for Scott Roeder, the Kansas City man charged with killing Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller.

Nothing says pro-life like supporting a murderer, right boys and girls?

An eBay official said the auction was unusual.

Gee, ya think?

The company would not reveal whether eBay would permit the auction to launch.

“EBay does not allow listings that promote or glorify violence, hate, racial or religious intolerance, or items that encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activity,” the company said in a statement.

I kinda think this qualifies. What's eBay waiting for, an arrest warrant?

But these aren't just ordinary items, nosireebob! These include drawings by the killer himself! Autographed drawings! I wonder if the medium was blood.

Regina Dinwiddie, a Kansas City anti-abortion activist, who signed the bullhorn:

“They’re wonderful pencil art drawings,” she said. “They were done in jail.”

Woweekazowee, who could ask for more?

“It has David with a slingshot in one hand and the head of Goliath in his other hand and the name ‘Tiller’ on Goliath’s forehead,” she said. “On the corpse on the ground, it says ‘child-murdering industry.’ ”

How could God possibly disapprove? Why, that there is a sanctified holy, guh-lorious Prison Pic, signed by the smiter his own self. Yeehaw!

Other user-friendly donations include:

An Army of God manual, an underground publication for anti-abortion militants that describes dozens of ways to shut down clinics, including bombing. [...]

“I plan to cover up the offending eight pages of bomb recipes and instead insert a note saying that in order to avoid legal problems, we advise our bomb-loving friends to seek their bomb recipes in a U.S. Army Manual, which is approved by the Justice Department,” the donor said.

And here we thought these saintly do-gooders weren't law-abiding. They sure should us!

But wait! There's more!

[A] collection of recipes compiled in prison by Shelley Shannon, the Oregon woman who shot and wounded Tiller in 1993 and was later convicted in a series of abortion clinic arsons and bombings. [...]

One recipe is for prison cheesecake [...]

Mmm, mmm, good! Who could resist something as yummy as Clinic Bomber's Cheesecake? I wonder if they're anything like Pro-Life Cupcakes...

Let's not forget Mr. Bullhorn. That's up for grabs, too! Some lucky ducky will be the ecstatic recipient of that extra special, hand-signed little stocking stuffer! Peace! Joy to the world! Let us pray...

The bullhorn autographed by Dinwiddie is similar to those she used when protesting outside abortion clinics.

“My original ones have all been confiscated by police,” Dinwiddie said, “but I’ll have a signed one, since I was the only person in the whole world that’s ever had an injunction against a bullhorn.”

Don'tcha just love one-of-a-kind gifts like that? So special. So thoughtful. So her.

Ooo! Ooo! Who wants to curl up with a good book about violence? Tommy? SueSue?

Michael Bray, an Ohio activist who spent four years in prison for the firebombings of abortion-related facilities on the East Coast in the 1980s, is donating an autographed copy of his book, “A Time to Kill.” The book is described as “an ethical treatise on the use of force in defense of the child in the womb.”

A real page-turner, huh? It's so very reassuring to see how precious life is to these generous souls.

And imagine the excitement over at the Roeder house!

Roeder said in a phone interview that he was excited about the auction.

I bet he's just hopping foot to foot with anticipation. Isn't that just like him?

To read more about these caring, empathetic, life-embracing angels, go here.

UPDATE: I'll be on the Angie Coiro Show (on San Francisco's progressive station Green 960) tomorrow night at 6:15 pm Pacific to talk about this.

Oklahoma abortion law ‘like undressing women in public’

By GottaLaff

OK is not OK:

As of November 1, doctors in Oklahoma will be compelled -- under penalty of criminal prosecution -- to post the details of each abortion they perform online. Among the details to be posted for every abortion is the patient's age, marital status and race; her financial condition; her education; and the total number of her previous pregnancies.

Race? Not that any of those details are relevant, but ... race?

"A friend said it best: It's like undressing women in public, exposing their most personal issues on the Internet," Lora Joyce Davis, one of the plaintiffs suing to prevent the law from coming into effect, told ABC News.

Undressing women? More like rape, if you ask me, I mean, since we're talkin' "invasive".

So this law is supposed to make women so uncomfortable and squirmy that they'll throw up their hands and change their minds? Really? Did that work in the pre-Roe dark ages? Would they prefer the coat hanger attempts of yesteryear?

The answer to that is yes, by the way.

And if someone feels strongly enough to get an abortion-- which is a highly personal decision, and a constitutional right-- do these so-called lawmakers actually believe that public humiliation will deter them from a life-changing, heart-wrenching, carefully considered decision?

Davis, along with former state Rep. Wanda Jo Stapleton, filed the lawsuit with the help of the Center for Reproductive Rights. The lawsuit seeks to have the law declared unconstitutional under the Oklahoma Constitution because it covers more than one subject.

Chipping away at choice, whether it be through backwards-thinking, privacy-invading laws or Pro-Life Cupcakes, means chipping away at our existing legal rights, and some of these methods threaten our democracy.

According to CCR, nearly one-quarter of women in the United States have to travel more than 50 miles for an abortion.

Now that's a crime.

Obama Calls Shooting of Anti-Abortion Activist 'Deplorable'

By GottaLaff

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Unlike many of his Rushpublic counterparts, the Head Dem knows that shooting people who disagree with you is wrong:

President Obama is calling the shooting of an anti-abortion activist "deplorable."

The White House on Sunday released a statement from the president on the shooting of James Pouillon. Obama says that "whichever side of a public debate you're on, violence is never the right answer."

He might want to clue in these people:

Back story here.