New pre-abortion requirements passed in Nebraska: Mental screening, for one

By GottaLaff

Do you hear that sound? It's the chip-chip-chipping away at Roe v. Wade. Legal abortions are less accessible, physicians who perform them are being assassinated, and restrictions on women who might need one are getting tighter.

This must be the liberty conservatives rave about so often. That whole "coming between you and your doctor" thing? Yeah, it is not the progressives who condone that:

LINCOLN, Neb.—Nebraska lawmakers on Monday gave final approval to a first-of-its-kind measure requiring women to be screened for possible mental and physical problems before having abortions. [...]

It's also likely be challenged in court. National abortion-rights supporters have called it a drastic shift in abortion policy that would block abortions by scaring doctors who might perform them.

Doctors would be required to screen women to find out if they were pressured into having abortions. Then they could determine whether someone is likely to end up with mental or physical problems after the procedure.

That's awfully subjective, and it occurs to me that a woman would feel pressured by the question about feeling pressured. Could this be the birth (no pun) of "pressure panels"?

The patients would have to be told whether they are at risk, but would still be allowed to have an abortion.

If I were told I were at risk, that would stress me out enough to be diagnosed as being stressed out, but I wouldn't necessarily be able to identify the source of my stress. Especially if I were a very young woman, as in teenager.

And after having worked with teens for years, I can safely say that they feel pressured if you so much look at them wrong.

Or if you tell them you're about to look at them wrong.

Or if you ask them if they feel pressured.

If a screening was not done, a woman could file a civil suit.

Doctors would not face criminal charges, nor would they lose their medical licenses.

So what's the problem?

"It's too vague," said Sen. Brad Ashford of Omaha, one of just nine senators who voted against the measure on Monday. "I don't know if a physician faced with civil action can know all the risk factors," cited in journals, he added.

Chip, chip, chip....

Ben Nelson to oppose reconciliation package, cites student lending

Hmm, I wonder why he'd do that?

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) said Monday he would vote against a reconciliation package that included changes to healthcare reform and student lending legislation.

Nelson said he opposed the package because the student lending bill would make the federal government the originator of student loans, replacing private lending institutions. Nelson said that would cost 30,000 jobs.

Nelnet, a major student lending company, is based in Nebraska.

Nebraska abortion doctor to expand his practice

Department of Unintended Consequences. A very brave man.

OMAHA, Neb. - An abortion doctor said Friday that he will likely perform more late-term procedures at his Nebraska practice to meet the demand left when a Kansas physician was shot and killed earlier this year.

The move could solidify Nebraska's and Dr. LeRoy Carhart's place at the center of the fight over abortion because he's trying to offer the late-term procedures his friend Dr. George Tiller offered in Wichita before his death.

Carhart has considered opening a clinic in Kansas, but said he thinks expanding his practice in the Omaha suburbs may be the best option because it is easier for patients to get flights into Omaha than Wichita.

TeaDeather Watch: Helsinki Syndrome

By GottaLaff

I got an e-mail from my pal David Williams, a freelancer and regular contributor to the Omaha City Weekly... and it goes a little something like this:

Laffy, I appreciate the opportunity you’ve given me in reaching your readers. And even though I have now come to the sad realization (how dumb could I have been?) that you are a socialist bent on the enslavement of the American people, I like to think that you are a fair socialist bent on the enslavement of the American people; that you will continue to welcome my contributions even if they eminate from what I’m sure you will consider to be the dark underbelly of Nebraska.

And, please, don’t try to talk me down. My son has already done so. With breathless futility.

“You’ve allowed yourself to be seduced,” he said incredulously. “It can’t be! It’s like that…that…Helsinki Syndrome!”

Being only 29 and a product of the Hollywood Generation, he had confused the Stockholm Syndrome with its celluloid doppelganger – that memorable invention of Hans Gruber, the diabolically dapper international thief featured in a certain high-rise heist film of a bygone millennium.

Regardless of his errant phrasing, my son had accused his own father of having fallen prey to psychological bonding with one’s tormentors.

“You’ve been shadowing those tin foil hat Tea Baggers for so long that they’ve gotten into your head,” he cried.

“Nothing of the sort,” I explained. “I’m fine. You should have been there! It was just…just…”

The tipping point, my awakening, had come mere hours earlier when I had gone to cover a 9/12 Project protest at U.S. Senator Ben Nelson’s office here in Omaha, Nebraska. The crowd, if you could call it that, was rather anemic. Only 25 flag and sign-waving patriots were there an hour after the rally had begun, so I thought the best use of my time on a quiet Saturday afternoon under azure skies would be to pepper Nelson’s office with a few cogent questions.

Questions like how Nelson could stand idly by when one of his colleagues in the Cornhusker State delegation, House member Lee Terry, continues to yammer on about death panels.

And how he should consider pressuring the president to dump any hopes of bipartisanship with the birther-baiter-babbler wing of…well, you know.

Nelson’s office was less than talkative. No replies to my queries. None.

Then it hit me. For Nelson’s office to be so thoroughly unresponsive to his constituents, so utterly unwilling to engage in the public square (even if it was a parking lot) of political discourse…well…maybe…just maybe…the placard people had a point. Perhaps I should hear them out. I mean really listen to them this time.

And don’t even bother pointing out that Nelson’s office was closed today, as it is on every Saturday.

It doesn’t change the fact that his blinds were blind to the people. His desks, probably still hung over from a Friday night bender of pulling the plug on grandma and tipping over outhouses ripe with the now-dashed promise of the American Dream…were dismissive.

And his mums were mum.

Everybody knows that freedom-haters harbor a special affinity for mums. To paraphrase Raymond Chandler’s “The Big Sleep,” the intoxicating allure of the petulant perennial derives from its sweet stench of corruption and flesh like that of a harlot.

No, there’s no excuse for the silence of Nelson’s office today. I mean those people (rather we, for I am now a fellow traveler) put a lot of thought into this protest.

Helsinki Helschminki!

I thank David for the e-mail, for sharing his deepest darkest feelings with me, and for finally realizing that I am, indeed, a socialist commie Marxist, and even more so for appreciating my desire to enslave.

Why, as we speak, I've hired independent contractors from Xe and KBR to add on a dungeon to the Laffy residence. I've insisted it must be built to code, but you know how touchy they can be about things like wiring and such.

We're having some difficulty in choosing a color palette, though. What would you go with: Servitude Sienna or Bondage Burgundy?

Exclusive: Hypocritical Death Panel Quote from Nebraska Rep. Lee Terry

By GottaLaff

David Williams, a freelance writer and regular contributor to the Omaha City Weekly, e-mailed me with an interesting back-and-forth he had with Republican Rep. Lee Terry at a "Recess Rally" yesterday, a "chock-full-of-nuts" Tea Party event in Omaha:

I recognize that Lee Terry is no Palin or Grassley, but [I] forced a House member to retract, or at least back-peddle, on the whole "death panel" lie, that most vile of fear mongering tactics. Lee Terry was for the death panels before he was against them. I was able to ask him only one question.

Before I share his experience with you, allow me to introduce Rep. Terry to those of you who don't know him. First, Lee the Jaywalker:

Terry was crossing a Washington street during a workweek when a local driver called him out for jaywalking.

"Can't you read the sign?" the driver shouted.

"[Expletive] you!" Terry retorted.

"Really?" the driver asked.

"Really," Terry confirmed.

Next, Lee the Hypocrite, who voted For the relief of the parents of Theresa Marie Schiavo:

Setting aside the inane idea that "death panels" are even what is being proposed, these Reps [Terry's on the list] are already on record voting for the most invasive government interference ever approved by congress...and on an issue of end of life care, to boot!

Finally, Lee the Laughable:

Looking to the 2010 election, 2nd District Republican Congressman Lee Terry is evidently hoping to portray himself as a constructive participant in the debate over health care reform rather than the back-benching flunky for the "Party of No" his actual record shows him to be. That's why Terry just released his very own "simple and affordable plan for healthcare reform" on his website...and it's just simple enough that every voter in his district should be able to see how laughably out-of-touch Terry really is.

Go here for the gory details.

And now ::drum roll:: David Williams' Excellent Lee Terry Adventure:

The following exchange took place at what was billed as a Health Care Reform Recess Rally in Omaha, Nebraska sponsored by the Nebraska Chapter of the 912 Project and Americans for Prosperity - Nebraska.

Omaha City Weekly: "Did you vote for the 2003 Medicare prescription drug plan (he had) that had language that looks an awful lot like section 1233 of the current HR 3200, the language that has been pointed to as being the equivalent of death panels and government enforced euthanasia?"

Terry: "There's a total difference between the two," he began before going on to do everything but answer the question.

Omaha City Weekly: "I'm looking specifically at the language that has become so controversial over the past couple weeks about death panels. Language that in the 2003 bill you voted for and..."

Terry (cutting off Williams): "You'd have to show me that language because I don't remember that language. The death panel bill in here, in this bill, is much more explicit. There's nothing in that bill (speaking obviously here about the 2003 bill) that reminds me of or even smacks of the Center for Comparative Health Effectiveness research which is going to be the heart of the panels that decide the proper and effective use of the dollars and protocols."

Yeah, I know...he's not the best on his feet...a not uncommon sentiment in his home state.

Later from the podium, Terry's main theme was, ironically, to "dispel Democrat myths" surrounding healthcare reform.

The crowd was sparse; no more than 400 at the same venue (the plaza of the Douglas County Courthouse and civic center) where they had at least twice that number on April 15th. There were (surprise!) no African Americans in attendance save for one of the scheduled speakers.

With all the high profile talk of death panels-- Sarah Palin using the term itself, and U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley from the neighboring state of Iowa speaking of "a government run plan to decide when to pull the plug on grandma"-- I was more than a little incredulous when Terry played dumb on what is perhaps the hottest political potato of recent weeks - the implications of previous GOP support for what are now called "death panels."

Thanks to David Williams, Lee Terry has attained a certain stature, but not the kind he might like.

So, allow me to offer congratulations to David for the gotcha...

....and congratulations Lee Terry. You're movin' on up the list of Hyp. O. Crites.

Nebraska doctor to offer late abortions

By GottaLaff

Thank you. And stay safe:

An Omaha doctor said he would perform third-term abortions in Kansas after the slaying there of abortion provider Dr. George Tiller, but would not say whether he would open a new facility or offer the procedure at an existing practice. Dr. LeRoy Carhart spoke one day after Tiller's family decided not to reopen his Wichita clinic. [...]

Carhart has a clinic in Bellevue, Neb., but had performed late-term abortions at Tiller's clinic because Kansas' laws are less restrictive.

365-162

By GottaLaff

I've posted about this before. I guess Obama went from "likely won" to "this time we mean it". Obama makes history... again:

President-elect Barack Obama has won one of Nebraska's electoral votes, making history in a state that has never split its electoral votes.

After all remaining ballots were counted Friday, Obama emerged with a 3,325-vote lead over Republican John McCain in unofficial results in the 2nd Congressional District. The district covers Douglas County, which includes Omaha, and portions of adjacent Sarpy County. [...]

Obama now has 365 electoral votes to McCain's 162.

GObama!

Obama Likely to Win Omaha Electoral Vote

By GottaLaff

Suh-weet! GObama! Via 538's Nate the Great, and the Omaha World-Herald:

Good news for Barack Obama supporters.

His odds of bagging an electoral vote in Nebraska grew stronger this morning, with word that 10,000 to 12,000 early ballots and 5,200 provisional ballots are left to count in Douglas County.

Obama won about 61 percent of the early votes counted before Tuesday's election. If that percentage holds with the early ballots left to count, Obama stands a strong chance of winning the Omaha-area 2nd Congressional District.

Republicans did not concede defeat this morning, but they acknowledged the long odds.

John McCain held a 569-vote lead over Obama in the 2nd District at the end of Tuesday.

"I will remain cautiously hopeful but not cautiously optimistic," said Hal Daub, state director for McCain. "I'm disappointed (in the numbers). We really worked hard here, against substantial resources being poured into Nebraska."

This would represent the first time that Nebraska has split its electoral votes.

Chuck Hagel's (R-NE) Wife To Endorse Obama

Obamacans unite!!

The wife of GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel (NE) will throw her support to Obama today in Virginia, the AP reports. Sen. Hagel has yet to endorse, though he accompanied Obama on a trip overseas during this campaign. Also in attendance at the event will be Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of Dwight Eisenhower. Eisenhower has written an op-ed in support of Obama.

Obama Adds Field Office In Nebraska

By GottaLaff

Via Ambinder:

Some evidence that the Obama campaign is heavily targeting the state's second congressional district: they've just opened another field office in Omaha.

Go get 'em, Obama.

Slogging Away For One Electoral Vote

BFCE. No one will laugh if it comes down to one electoral vote, and they're not taking anything for granted.

A reader making calls on behalf of Obama sends over a call script, which instructs volunteers to call people in the district, which is centered on Omaha:

Right now, we're in a heated race with John McCain here in the Second Congressional District. If we win here, we can deliver a Nebraska electoral vote for Barack that could prove critical in our path to victory in November. Can you join us at our office at 76th and Cass to help make phone calls, knock on doors, and ensure we get every Omaha voter out to vote for Barack on November 4?

Nebraska splits its electoral votes, and it seems to be one of those stones not being left unturned.