I see racist people...

By GottaLaff

Look who's running for governor of Florida:

CPR chief Rick Scott was ousted as a hospital exec amid a 1990s fraud probe, and the memo will alarm pro-reform forces, because it shows that the anti-reform camp is beginning to sense that victory is within reach on their top goal: Killing the public option.

Oh, you already knew that? Did you know all this?

R Lynn's Wiki:

Richard Lynn "Rick" Scott (born 1953 in Bloomington, Illinois) announced his candidacy for Florida governor on April 13, 2010.^[1]

Scott is a healthcare industry executive and founder of Conservatives for Patients' Rights (CPR) which advertises against expanding the U.S. government's role in regulating the healthcare system but failed in its efforts to block healthcare reform.

Scott founded the Columbia Hospital Corporation in 1987. With Columbia HCA Chairman Thomas J. Frist, the brother of Senator Bill Frist, the company merged Columbia with Hospital Corporation of America in 1989 to form Columbia/HCA. Ten years later, Scott was ousted by the company's board of directors in the midst of the nation's biggest health care fraud scandal in which the company ultimately plead guilty to the nation's then largest Medicaid and Medicare fraud and paid a record fine of $1.7 billion dollars.^[2][3][4] In 2001, Scott co-founded the Solantic Corporation, which operates walk-in medical care centers. He also owns Continental Structural Plastics, North America's largest industrial composites molder. [...]

CPR opposes the broad outlines of President Obama's health-care plans, and has hired Creative Response Concepts, a public relations firm which previously worked with the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

Isn't he the bee's knees? The cat's pajamas?

The liver worst?

Now he can add "racial profiler" to his resume. Congratulations, Ricky Lynn, you've topped yourself:


H/t: LynCKos for the title and for alerting me to Scott's tweet.

Unabashed Maddow fan girl geekitude time

By GottaLaff

Please indulge me. I'm a geek. I'm a Maddow fan girl. I admit it.

You can't imagine how proud ZenShadow and I are right now:

Our pals at the Political Carnival bring the awesome with this human response to Arizona's "Papers, please" bill.

You can view the video here. Click on above image to enlarge.

I am truly honored.

Okay, moment of fan girl geekitude is over. Regular posting will resume shortly.

VIDEO- Special BLUNT: "Do I Look Illegal?"

By GottaLaff

This webisode of Blunt was a bigger collaborative effort than usual, and for that, ZenShadow and I thank you.

ZenShadow is the one who came up with the concept for this amazing collection of videos, and I edited them together, and then some.

We put the word out on Twitter, and before I knew it, I had 60-plus videos filling my inbox. My video program couldn't handle the load, so sadly, some had to be cut. I apologize deeply for that, because I know the feeling that went into them.

Thank you to every single contributor. You may recognize some faces, and other ones you'll wish you knew better. All are wonderful, caring people.

But the trick question is, which ones are "illegal"?



Blunt is a lot like letters to the editor. YOUR take, short, to the point.

You have a voice, now use it.

(Click on image to enlarge)

For more information about Blunt, follow this link. If you think a video file is too big to email, then go here and use YouSendIt.com.

Please include a name you'd like to use, and a "title", if any, in your e-mail, as you'll see in the video graphics.

Remember: Try to keep the videos at 20 seconds or under.

It's your turn. Go.

Widow of officer slain by illegal immigrant criticizes new Arizona law

By GottaLaff

Julie Erfle

The new Arizona "Papers Please" law has placed new emphasis on footwear, but doesn't do much to prevent real crime. In fact, the law itself is a real crime:

The widow of a Phoenix police officer [Nick Erfle] who was fatally shot three years ago by an undocumented immigrant said Arizona's new law would have done nothing to save her husband's life had it been in place in 2007.

She's right.

Julie Erfle believes that policymakers need to cut through the "rhetoric" and "fear-mongering" and that the police would not be protected from violence... or from accusations of racial profiling, either.

She's right again.

Seems she's more concerned about the safety of police officers than those who claim to be concerned about the safety of police officers.

"My concern with this bill, though, is what it does to law enforcement [...] This bill puts them under a microscope. I feel it's a no-win situation for an officer. I don't think it keeps officers safe. [...] "My opinion on it is that this isn't the solution, that we need something on the federal level"

Erfle said that her husband would be "infuriated" by Arizona's politics.

Many of us are too.

Julie is very wise. But she is also very ticked that supporters are exploiting her husband to get political donations.

She said [state Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, who sponsored the bill] wrote to her in 2007 to ease her frustration about how her husband's memory was being used in the media, but she didn't feel the response was adequate.

"My response to (Pearce) was that it was inappropriate, under any circumstances, to use someone's murder to promote yourself financially or politically," she said.

But a little thing like that won't stop 'em.

Poll-itics: Majority Support Arizona's Immigration Law

By GottaLaff

Head-scratcher of the day week month year:

A slim majority of Americans support the new Arizona immigration law, 51% to 36%, according to a new New York Times/CBS News poll.

An overwhelming majority of respondents also believe the nation's immigration laws should undergo an extensive overhaul.

A Gallup poll last week found similar results.

Do the people who were polled understand what the law says? Have the people who were polled ever been stopped by the police because of the color of their skin... or what their shoes looked like? Do the people who were polled have relatives, living or dead, who came to America from another country?

An law requiring an education may be in order.

Frank Rich: If Only Arizona Were the Real Problem

By GottaLaff

(via Barry Blitt)

Reminder:

Please note that posting could be light today. Paddy is gone for a few hours, I'm on no sleep and have a huge video project ahead of me that got a bigger response than I ever expected, and that's a good thing. Between editing and Paddy's absence, things will be a little slower today.

That said, today's Frank Rich excerpts:

[T]o label this development “Arizona’s folly” trivializes its import and reach. The more you examine the law’s provisions and proponents, the more you realize that it’s the latest and (so far) most vicious battle in a far broader movement that is not just about illegal immigrants — and that is steadily increasing its annexation of one of America’s two major political parties. [...]

To be angry about illegal immigration is hardly tantamount to being a bigot. But the Arizona law expressing that anger is bigoted, and in a very particular way. The law dovetails seamlessly with the national “Take Back America” crusade that has attended the rise of Barack Obama and the accelerating demographic shift our first African-American president represents. [...]

[This] is often the same crowd still demanding that the president produce a document proving his own citizenship. [...]

With the whole country now watching Arizona, that “birther” bill was abruptly yanked Thursday.

The legislators who voted for both it and the immigration law were exclusively Republicans, but what happened in the Arizona G.O.P. is not staying in Arizona. Officials in at least 10 other states are now teeing up their own new immigration legislation. They are doing so even in un-Arizonan places like Ohio, Missouri, Maryland and Nebraska, none of them on the Department of Homeland Security’s 2009 list of the 10 states that contain three-quarters of America’s illegal immigrant population. [...]

What a difference the Tea Party makes. [...] McCain, like other mainstream conservative Republicans facing primaries this year, is now fighting for his political life against a Tea Party-supported radical. [...]

McCain, like Arizona, shouldn’t be singled out for censure: He is far from alone in cowering before his party’s extremists. [...] There are few profiles in courage among the leaders in this G.O.P. — only a lot of guys hiding under their desks.

McKinnon and Rove know well that Latino-bashing will ultimately prove political suicide in a century when Hispanic Americans are well on their way to becoming the largest minority in the country and are already the swing voters in many critical states. [...]

It’s also hard to maintain that the Tea Party’s nuttier elements are merely a fringe of a fringe. [...]

The angry right and its apologists also keep insisting that race has nothing to do with their political passions. [...] So how does that profiling work without race or ethnicity, exactly? [...]

In this Alice in Wonderland inversion of reality, it’s politically incorrect to entertain a reasonable suspicion that race may be at least a factor in what drives an action like the Arizona immigration law. Any racism in America, it turns out, is directed at whites. [...]

The rage of 2010 is far more incendiary than anything that went down in 1988, and it will soon leap from illegal immigration to other issues in other states. Boycott the Diamondbacks and Phoenix’s convention hotels if you want to punish Arizona, but don’t for a second believe that it will stop the fire next time.

Please read the whole thing here.

Quickie: Twofer edition

By GottaLaff

Today's Quickie is a twofer, and they both come by way of Greg Sargent:

* Today’s prize for bucking the Beltway-approved narrative goes to Jonathan Alter, for making an audacious suggestion: Rather than asking whether the Gulf spill is Obama’s Katrina, let’s ask whether it should give new momentum to energy reform.

* Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, a gung-ho backer of the Arizona immigration law, says he will decide whether to ride his tough-on-immigration notoriety to launch a run for higher office, commenting thusly:

“I am not running for governor now until I decide over the weekend with a glass of wine and my wife, since my mother and father came here from Italy, with a little spaghetti and meatballs.”

Well now, those are two hefty little Quickies. One relates back to this post, in which I complained about the Katrina meme that the pretend news insists upon pushing.

As for Arpaio, I posted about him here. He's hopeless and has no business being in the public eye or in public office, let alone anywhere else.

That was today's Quickie Twofer. Was it good for you?

Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez arrested at Washington immigration rally

By GottaLaff

Los Angeles surpassed its 100,000 count at their immigration rally, per CNN. Gutierrez was in D.C.:

Police arrested Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez at an immigration rally outside the White House on Saturday.

As for Los Angeles:

Several people interviewed said they had not been to a pro-immigration march since the massive protests in 2006, but that Arizona's law compelled them to come out.

Arizona is compelling people to do a lot of things they might not ordinarily do.

Arizona Watch: Racial profiling is a reality

By GottaLaff

Racial profiling has been going on for some time in Arizona, thanks to Sheriff Joe Arpaio, as we've posted over and over. Today the L.A. Times is reporting that very same thing, and it's not pretty:

[...] Latino activists and civil rights attorneys contend that profiling is already a reality in the Maricopa County, where two-thirds of the state's residents live. [...]

Since 2008 [Arpaio] has sent hundreds of his deputies and sworn volunteers on "sweeps" through immigrant-heavy neighborhoods, where they stop jaywalkers or drivers with broken taillights and ask for identification and immigration information. An analysis by civil rights lawyers found 70% of those arrested in these operations have Spanish surnames. Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix and Scottsdale, is only 31% Latino, the majority of whom are legal residents or U.S. citizens.

Arpaio's tactics, which he says are necessary to suppress crime, have made him wildly popular in Arizona.

Arpaio even pulls over his supporters. What better way to maintain popularity with your base?

U.S. citizens? Pfft. Arizona is an equal opportunity persecutor. Take 64-year-old Dan Magos, for example. He had a gun inside his truck, which is legal, nor had that never concerned the police before. Magos was pulled over for (supposedly) not having a license plate on the trailer he was pulling:

[T]he deputy made him wait 10 minutes before letting him go with the words: "I don't want you to think this has anything to do with racial profiling."

Of course not, why would anyone think that?

The Times describes a few more instances like that one.

Remember when Arizona was a vacation destination, a place where people went to relax?

The new Arizona law in effect orders every Arizona law enforcement officer to respond like Arpaio's deputies.

That new Papers Please law should be quite a boon for the tourism industry.

Call me crazy, but I have a feeling getting arrested for Driving While Ethnic just isn't the draw Arizona hopes it will be.

VIDEO: Arizona deputy shot by alleged undocumented immigrant, officials say

By GottaLaff



Things are bound to get worse now. This is not a good sign:

A sheriff's deputy in central Arizona was shot Friday afternoon by an alleged illegal immigrant, authorities said. [...]

The Pinal County deputy, who was not immediately identified, contacted authorities after being wounded in the desert, saying he had been shot by an illegal immigrant with an AK-47, said Lt. Tammy Villar, a sheriff's spokeswoman. [...]

The shooting is sure to heat up the debate around the new Arizona law.

Watch the supporters of the Papers Please law use this as justification for racial profiling. Nobody is defending the bad guys, but even an event as horrible as this one does not provide an excuse to arrest someone for Breathing While Mexican.

Un-American: Special Comment by my 72-year-old friend

By GottaLaff

My impassioned 72-year-old Twitter pal, who goes by the name 42bkdodgr, would like to share his feelings about the Arizona "Papers Please" law and comparisons to Nazi Germany. I am more than happy to oblige.

But first, a personal note from 42bkdodgr:

Many of you may wonder why I chose to use the “ 72 year old friend” as the introduction to my Special Comments. I selected the moniker so readers could see that from my age and life experiences I give a different perspective to the issues of today.

Now for his Special Comment:

Un-American

Chris Matthews in his segment “Let Me Finish” on April 28, spoke about the use of such words as Nazism and Hitlerism by liberals and conservatives when objecting to laws and policies adopted by the federal or state governments they believe to be un-American.

One of the examples Chris used was the recent law enacted by Arizona relating to illegal immigrants. Chris stated that there is a big difference between what Arizona is trying to do-- preventing people from entering America illegally-- and what Hitler did, killing people who were trying to flee Germany.

There is one basic item that is the same in both policies.

The Arizona police may stop anyone for reasonable suspicion who they believe may be in the country illegally. That is the same tactic used by the Gestapo in Germany, by asking people for their papers, with no reasonable cause, only to see if they had proper identification papers to be where they were.

German citizens had to carry their identification papers with them at all times, which is the same requirement under the Arizona law for its citizens.

There are two other examples I believe come under Nazi type tactics.

A GOP congressional candidate proposes installing microchips on illegal immigrants. Doing something like that, would be a modern day version of Hitler requiring patches to be worn on clothing to identify those Germans who were Jewish, Communists, homosexuals or political opponents.

Then we have Duncan Hunter Jr., who stated at a tea party rally in California, that children born in the United States whose parents came to this country illegally should be deported.

In the 1930s, Hitler passed laws that natural born Jewish Germans weren’t considered citizens of Nazi Germany, and among other things, couldn’t hold public office, be a judge, a doctor or teach in the public school system or universities.

The scary part is Duncan Hunter favors deporting natural born citizens of the United States, even though promoting such a policy is in direct violation of the Amendment XIV of the U.S. Constitution.

Conservative Republicans, like Duncan Hunter, love to say the Constitution is the law of the land and it should be obeyed, but they sure like to tear it apart when it gets in the way of their ideology.

While the policies enacted and those being advocated are in no way as evil as those used in Nazi Germany, I just feel the basic foundation of those policies are the same used in Germany.

Many thanks again for another thorough, relevant piece, 42bkdodgr. You often say what many of us are thinking and feeling, and we thank you for your unique perspective.

Foster mom: "More girls arrive to us because their parents were detained by the ICE... will be hurt by AZ law"

By GottaLaff

How can you tell which one of these kids might or might not be "legal"?

My pal TexBetsy has shared something that is a must-read, and she has graciously allowed me to cross-post most of it here. But please go to her place and read the whole thing:

I am a mother, a foster mother, a host mother, and an emergency shelter mother. I am a mother. You know me as Cassie’s* host mom for the last 17 months but I have been a mother for over twenty years to thirty-one girls. [...] Our girls come in all sizes and all colors. Most were born in the United States but some were not. Some speak only English and some speak Spanish as well. [...]

We met war orphans from El Salvador and Nicaragua. [...]

In the past few years since President Bush started detaining immigrants under homeland security laws we have had more girls arrive to us because their parents were detained by the ICE. Like all children in foster care, these girls want to be reunited with their family-by-blood, and they have a difficulty understanding why they are separated. Often they do not know for months if their parents are in detention or have been sent back to their native country.

Arizona’s new immigration law makes this worse and will cause more strife within families. My husband and I carry our temporary custodianship papers with us at all times but we do not always have citizenship papers for the girls in our family. Some do not have their documents and some do not have citizenship in the United States. Some are of undetermined legal status until their birth parent’s detention hearing is concluded.

[...] The children in my care have suffered abandonment and loss they spend their whole lives trying to understand. Some will never recover even though their chances through life are better in a loving home than in an abusive one connected only by blood.

Children in foster care will be hurt by the Arizona law. Children of documented and undocumented immigrants will be hurt by this law. [...] Good people of conscience can not support laws that will lead to fractured childhoods and distrust of government when the family relationships can and should be kept in tact.

*I've also posted Cassie's writings, which are fantastic. Links here.

Very few people are talking about this problem from the families' perspective. It's even more rare to hear from someone who speaks for children.

Children often cannot or will not can speak for themselves. I know that from first hand experience, having worked with elementary, middle, and high school level kids for years. And sadly, once a child has been hurt deeply, they are often damaged for life. It takes immense patience and diligence to help them restore trust and a sense of security once they've experienced pain and fear.

Thank you, TexBetsy, for sharing these invaluable insights.

Why we can be glad about Arizona's terrible law

By GottaLaff


In the old Hayley Mills movie Pollyanna, the title character was the eternal optimist and loved to play what she called "The Glad Game". There was only one rule: No matter how hopeless or frustrated you felt, there had to be at least one thing you could find to be glad about.

Time to play.

Arizona passed their new, terrible, jaw-dropping racial profiling legislation, aka the Show Your Papers law. That pretty much sucks as badly as anything could suck. Silver lining anyone?

I know! I'm glad that it's uniting opposition and attracting attention to the need for sweeping immigration reform as well as exposing racists who try to hide behind patriotism:

The Los Angeles Police are preparing for as many as 100,000 marchers to rally for immigration rights in downtown Los Angeles during the annual May Day event Saturday.

LAPD officials are preparing for a surge in the number of participants in the wake of an outcry over a controversial new Arizona law that requires police to check the legal status of people they suspect of being illegal immigrants.

I'm glad there will be a surge. I'm glad people are getting angry. I'm glad the law is being contested in court. I'm glad this has become a major topic of discussion. I'm glad we have a president who feels the outrage.

I'll be glad when racism becomes a thing of the past.

I'm glad I'm a dreamer.

Tea Baggers fine with big government when it comes to racial profiling

By GottaLaff

Dave Weigel found something interesting. The Tea Tantrumers are all for "big government" aka police states, after all.... at least when it comes to racial profiling in Arizona (click on image to enlarge):

So, here is one effort to give government more power that tea partiers are not pounding the pavement to oppose.

The Tea Bagger notification goes on to say:

We know that many of you work, but we have received word from the AZ State Capitol, that there are many anti-immigration people at the Capitol (and we think they are staying all night). They are also being bused in from California.

We are asking for you to spread the word to see if anyone is available to come down there "today" (Thursday) to show your support of the bill.

They are meeting by the Arizona Flag on the House Lawn. Bring American Flags and signs if possible.

Also, it is still very important to please call Governor Brewer at: 602-542-4331

We are also planning on going back on Friday at 11:00 A.M. (unless the Governor does the right thing and signs the bill). We are now hearing that she said she will do something on Friday.

Signs: We support "LEGAL" Immigration, In Mexico, You Must Be Legal... Why not here? - etc... (Printable signs will be placed below)

So "Obamacare" is intrusive and Marxist/commie/fascist/socialistic, but busting people for not "showing their papers" while wearing the wrong shoes is just dandy by them.

No hypocrisy there.

VIDEO- Arizona passes strict illegal immigration act; "Pro-discrimination"

By GottaLaff

As Tiggrr1 says, Arizona's Anti-Immigration Bill puts Arizona in the same boat as segregationists in the 1960s. He's right.

1964 to be exact. Watch:




Via the L.A. Times:

Arizona lawmakers on Tuesday approved what foes and supporters agree is the toughest measure in the country against illegal immigrants, directing local police to determine whether people are in the country legally. [...]

Immigrant rights groups were horrified, and contended that Arizona would be transformed into a police state.

"It's beyond the pale," said Chris Newman, legal director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. "It appears to mandate racial profiling."

The bill, known as SB 1070, makes it a misdemeanor to lack proper immigration paperwork in Arizona. It also requires police officers, if they form a "reasonable suspicion" that someone is an illegal immigrant, to determine the person's immigration status.

Currently, officers can inquire about someone's immigration status only if the person is a suspect in another crime. The bill allows officers to avoid the immigration issue if it would be impractical or hinder another investigation.

Are we getting a clearer picture of the battle over immigration reform now? And don't get me started on Joe Arpaio.

H/t: Tiggrr1

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

Cartoon of the Day

Click to enlarge, via.