Archive for August 2008

Carnival in Shakespearean Verse (Elitist Bastards)

The right honourable Blake Stacey offers a first – a “Carnival of the Elitist Bastards” roundup in the bard’s voice. DRAMATIS PERSONAE: the King (PZ Myers), 1st Messenger (a wench), etc., etc…

The Perfect Storm

Hurricane Gustav seems likely to be George W. Bush’s redemption, and John McCain’s salvation. With both Bush and Cheney canceling their convention appearances – though Bush is likely to phone in a speech – McCain is spared an embarrassing reminder of the confluence between his policies and the failed ideas of the past. And Bush gets a chance to redress the horrible Katrina fiasco that defined his administration’s incompetence and woeful divorce from reality. If Focus on the Family’s prayers for rain went unanswered, they may have been answered in a different form. John McCain could scarcely have prayed for a better excuse to keep the Horror Twins away from his big day. What’s bad for millions of Gulf Coast residents is also, in a twisted way, good for the Republican Party, and bad for Barack Obama’s chances in November.

The Democrats’ job in the next week, then – apart from proactively seeking aid for a much-abused sector of American society, which seems to already be under way – is to remind America of the speeches RNC visitors won’t see. The line is simple: what part of the past eight years did you like enough to risk repeating?

Debunking & Meeting Head-On the Threat of Crisis Pregnancy Centers

In the apparent great war over the right for American women to make up their own minds about difficult moral questions, the anti-choice sector often stoops to “playing dirty” by threatening, abusing, and lying to prospective patients of reproductive health centers, to convince them not to follow through with their intentions of obtaining abortions.

To call this tactic dishonest is an extreme understatement. Whatever one’s views on the morality of abortion, we ought to be able to agree that “lying for Jesus” – or, terrorizing for Jesus – is off the table. Against these acts of indecency stands my longtime friend Lauren, who has recently founded a website to expose the evil of “crisis pregnancy centers.” What follows is her description of her work:

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Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) are fake clinics that use deceptive tactics to lure vulnerable women into their doors. Once inside, women are subjected to an array of false and misleading information regarding their reproductive options. CPCs are not medical clinics, but instead an appendage of the anti-choice camp whose mission is to enact control over a woman’s body and limit her decisions. Many staff no medical professionals at all. With over 4000 CPCs operational in the U.S., it’s likely tens of thousands of women have, through no fault of their own, fallen victim to one of the most dangerous threats facing reproductive freedom today.

CPC Watch is a developing website that seeks to expose the lies put forth by these fake clinics and provide information about how their operation leads to the detriment of reproductive rights. We list known CPCs, offer “warning signs” of a CPC, and provide a list of legitimate healthcare providers and resources where women can trust they’re receiving the very best, unbiased scientific information regarding their reproductive options. A list of personal testimonials provides a look into the inner workings of a CPC. Our Frequently Asked Questions section addresses many of the myths created by the anti-choice camp and offers legitimate medical information regarding such concerns (i.e., the purported abortion-breast cancer link). We also have a News and Action Alerts page to keep visitors updated on the goings on in the larger battle for reproductive rights nationwide.

CPC Watch is not affiliated with any political party or vanguard group. Our mission is to operate under an umbrella of reproductive justice where the concerns of real people are taken into account, and where no one’s personal experience is invalid. CPC Watch welcomes the support of all races, genders, religious or political affiliations, sexual orientations, and other organizations that have a pro-choice/pro-reproductive justice agenda.

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Great work, Lauren. Too often sham science and bad medicine have become weapons of persuasion to the disingenous and politically motivated.

Palin Watch Continues – Birth Control & Condoms

Sarah Palin opposes birth control in all cases and condoms, even for married couples. Wow. Update: authority appears to go both ways. She’s on-record supporting contraception in other places, though she remains wildly, controversially anti-choice. This and more in our critically acclaimed Sarah Palin coverage.

Electoral Science: Persuasion

NPR’s Ira Flatow addresses the psychology behind negative advertisements (mainly, why they work) and the value of exploiting groupthink, in “the Science of Getting a Yes.” Next, how undecided are the undecided voters? The trick is in analyzing automatic mental associations which, much like hidden prejudices, exist whether you want them to or not.

Palin Updates

McCain had only met Sarah Palin once before picking her as his running mate. And, although she satisfies divisions in the Republican Party, she was once on the wrong side of those divisions. Palin backed Pat Buchanan, and Ron Paul – not John McCain. But wait! There’s more. She also “hasn’t focused much on the Iraq War.” Her words.

In Palin’s Rollout, a Worrying Degree of Essentialism

It’s no surprise that the election thus far has been, more than usual, about identity politics. Perhaps this was inevitable with the clash of two firsts – Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton – but Obama’s narrow defeat of Clinton, coupled with allegations of media sexism, made the election understandably personal for many of women.

In the GOP’s rollout of Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential nominee, the party tried to play on this lingering disappointment. Palin herself tried to take up Hillary’s mantle, saying that “the women of America aren’t finished yet and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all.” However, in equating Sarah Palin with Hillary Clinton, the GOP makes the tacit assumption that “what made Hillary Clinton such a good candidate was her gender, not her political experience or positions on the issues.” If McCain’s choice honors women, it honors women simply for being women, rather than for their unique accomplishments. That’s just a different type of sexism: essentialism, the idea that women are only their gender.

Especially because McCain had the option of picking an experienced woman as his running mate, the choice of Palin over, say, Kay Bailey Hutchinson suggests that the GOP only cares about women in politics insofar as they look good in TV spots. The GOP proved that it doesn’t get feminism; it just gets how to manipulate it for short-term political gain. Women shouldn’t be publicity stunts.

For many women, Barack Obama was “that younger, good looking, totally inexperienced guy at the office that everyone loves, and he just got promoted over you.” Now Sarah Palin risks becoming that younger, better looking, totally inexperienced girl that just got promoted over you. All the GOP has done is substitute one form of sexism for another, and advance the idea that gender, not accomplishments, is what’s important when looking at a woman.

Interestingly, the GOP’s transparent attempt to “play the gender card” isn’t fooling anyone. Feministing sees through the hype, and so does riverdaughter. But while Feministing sees the sub silentio subversion of sexual equality, riverdaughter sees a chance to make vengeance palatable. Should the latter camp win out, they may just end up learning Pyrrhus’ lesson: some victories aren’t worth having.

David Plouffe Let Us Down; But We Picked Up the Slack

Sarah Palin was a risky and “unexpected” choice, but to informed observers (that’s you commenters, not me) it was always within the realm of possibility. Yet, when McCain tapped Palin today, Obama’s campaign had no attack ads prepared, and MoveOn just managed to release an anti-Palin e-mail late in the afternoon. Obama’s massive war chest means he should have been prepared for all outcomes. Especially this one.

In his stead, we have a modest submission of our own.

No copyright laws were harmed in the making of this film (totally fair use). Thanks to Andrea (beloved girlfriend) for lending her voice to the video, and her creativity to the drafting process.

If you also approve this message, please spread the word. Obama should’ve been ready for the counteroffensive. Palin, as a newcomer, is vulnerable to hostile definition in her first 24 hours. As far as I can tell, we JUST made it.

MoveOn Dissects Sarah Palin… and it’s Not Good

Spread the word – Sarah Palin voted with radical right-winger Pat Buchanan, supports creationism, opposes environmental regulation, and is a climate change denialist. Read the full report here.

Sarah Palin: False Promise in the First Female Republican VP Nomination

If Sarah Palin promises appeal to women and independents, it will be less for her ideas and successes, than for her gender and her hitherto unfulfilled promise. As a commenter at “Yes to Democracy” pointed out, McCain had two strategies going into this week: either continue to harp on Obama’s inexperience, or exploit the wedge in the Democratic Party left by Hillary’s loss. By choosing a running mate whose only experience, thus far, is serving as mayor to a town of 7,000 and winning a closely fought gubernatorial election, McCain has opted to do the latter.

Playing to their newfound (only remaining) talking point, McCain updated his site with an attempt to cast the economy as a “woman’s issue,” and Governor Palin couched her acceptance fully in terms of her gender, in a shameless attempt to appeal to Democrats feeling “left out”:

I can’t begin this great effort without honoring the achievements of Geraldine Ferraro in 1984, and of course Senator Hillary Clinton, who showed such determination and grace in her presidential campaign, it was rightly noted in Denver this week that Hillary left 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America, but it turns out the women of America aren’t finished yet and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all.

But it would be a mistake for American women to confuse Palin’s nomination with a vindication of a feminine political agenda. Picking Palin is rather an attempt to exploit women’s deep-seated disappointment at the loss of Hilary, than an actual attempt to build a more gender-neutral and egalitarian American government. All signs suggest that Governor Palin is a deeply, deeply conservative candidate, opposed to abortion in all cases.

And she’s a creationist. If there is surefire way to signal “ideology & paternalism over reason” louder than creationism, I have yet to find it.

In short, American women, when you see Sarah Palin, don’t think Hillary Clinton. Think Phyllis Schlafly, the anti-feminist woman. Don’t fall for patriarchal values dressed up in a pantsuit. Only when viewed emotionally, rather than rationally, does Palin suggest anything else.

Update: more on Palin & creationism, global warming denialism, and her unforgivable support for radical right-winger Pat Buchanan. This is not a moderate. SPREAD THE WORD.