Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting

Well, hi there. I really can't remember if this has been on here before, but oh well:


Sly and the Family Stone - If You Want Me To Stay

So a lot is new, huh? You've probably heard about the soldier that killed 13 and wounded 30 in Fort Hood, Texas by now. Interestingly, he was shot four times by a police officer, taken into custody, and was reported to be in stable condition that night. Why is that interesting? I don't know; I guess it just occurred to me that for all of the shootings we hear about (I could go somewhere with that, but it's another post) pretty much all of them end with the death of the shooter, and this one didn't.

Oh yeah, the guy is also a Muslim, so of course the media are having fun with that; the Washington Post makes sure to include in their headline that he is a "devout Muslim." The BBC at least waits until the second or third paragraph to mention it along with his full name, and...well, I didn't even check FOX news, but you can imagine.

Fortunately, I've seen a great deal of good writing on the topic. Columnists are attempting to make people aware of the potential problems for the Muslim-American community as a result of the coverage this story is going to be getting for awhile, as well as pointing out the unfair nature of some of the coverage. It's interesting too that Muslim groups in America have come forward to condemn the soldier's actions, even though it's a little sad that they feel like they have to do that at all. When Christian fundamentalists firebomb abortion clinics, I don't have to step out and say, "That's not my religion," for fear of some kind of major backlash against Christianity. But you know this already, and how much coverage the condemnation will get is another issue altogether, I suppose.

Another big piece of news that you've probably seen involves health care reform. A major health care bill passed by the House had a restriction on abortion coverage attached to it, meaning anyone who uses the government-run health care program will have no abortion coverage. Of course abortion will still be legal, and we're all cool with that, but its status as something for rich people or people lucky enough to have employers who provide abortion coverage will be essentially cemented. Yeah, that sounds like the natural progression of things. Oh wait, a lot of people are really pissed:

Taylor Marsh at the Huffington Post:

The first female Speaker of the House makes history by passing a health care bill that not only doesn't have a robust public option, but also sells out women's civil rights.

Rachel Maddow calls it "the biggest restriction on abortion access in this country in a generation."

I could go on, but you get the idea. For some reason, I'm annoyed with the rhetoric of a lot of politicians; I feel like they treat the whole issue like it's some kind of game. I'm talking about all of the "bring down Obamacare" and "battle it out to the end" stuff. This isn't an Arnold Schwarzenegger film; civil rights are at stake here. Maybe Republicans wanting to "slay the evil Obamazilla from hell" (okay, I may have made that one up) decided that if they do whatever they can to make the lives of American women as miserable as possible, they'll eventually lose faith in Obama and the Democrats. Then when everyone hates the Republicans and everyone hates the Democrats, maybe we can have a no-party system and cast no votes for nobody. That would be so punk rock.

Before I stray off too much into the ridiculous, I also found this amusing: Congressman Pete Sessions of good ol' Texas (hey, I can make fun of it, I was born here) suggested in a Rules Committee meeting a few nights ago that treating female-related health conditions is comparable to insurance companies imposing restrictions on smokers. When someone asked him why women should pay more, he said, "Well, we're all different. Why should a smoker pay more?" Yep.

So ladies, maybe next time you'll think twice when choosing what reproductive organs you're born with. I mean really, it's not like it was multiple choice or something.

The shadiness doesn't end there, the bishops also got involved at the highest level. Check it:

At the funeral of Senator Edward M. Kennedy in August, Cardinal Seán O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, stole a private moment with Mr. Obama to deliver the same warning: The bishops very much wanted to support his health care overhaul but not if it provided for abortions. The president “listened intently,” the cardinal reported on his blog.

Sigh.