Sam Harris talks about stem cell research and morality.

I think that this is one of the most compelling arguments against the idea of personhood, and the idea that experimentation on fetal tissue is immoral.

Kind of puts this whole anti-Planned Parenthood debate into perspective don't you think?

Mike Huckabee supports Paraguay's decision to force a 10 year old girl to give birth to her rapist's baby.

In an interview with Dana Bash on CNN on Sunday, Huckabee was asked about a recent news item about a 10 year old girl who had been raped by her stepfather, and the decision of the government to deny her an abortion.

Here is more courtesy of CNN: 

"Let's not compound a tragedy by taking yet another life."

 "A 10-year-old girl being raped is horrible. But does it solve a problem by taking the life of an innocent child? And that's really the issue," Huckabee said. 

He said his opposition to abortion is based in part on its lasting effects, including that of the woman making the decision. 

"There are two victims. One is the child; the other is that birth mother who often will go through extraordinary guilt years later when she begins to think through what happened -- with the baby, with her. And again, there are no easy answers here," Huckabee said. 

"I just come down on the side that life is precious; every life has worth and value. I don't think we discount the intrinsic worth of any human being, and I don't know where else to go with it than just to be consistent and say, if life matters, and that's a person, then every life matters," he said.

This is really the danger of adopting this whole "personhood" idea.

First off it is not based on biological facts, and secondly it allows people, usually men, to deny the rights of females by suggesting that the rights of the fetus supersedes those of the woman.  Or in this, case little girl.

And yes do keep in mind that this is NOT an adult woman who made the decision to have unprotected sex, this is somebody's baby who was assaulted by an adult she trusted, and was then forced to be the biological incubator that allowed his violent act to take human form.

Huckabee talks about facing guilt years after having an abortion, but first of all that is a fallacy, and secondly it pales by comparison to the emotional stress this child has endured by having her innocence ripped away from her and and then being thrust into the role of a full grown woman when she barely understands what is happening to her, and to her body.

Compound that with having to raise the child when you are a child yourself, or perhaps instead having the child immediately taken away for adoption so that you can feel that sense of loss after suffering through the pain of childbirth.


Clearly Huckabee is zealot who places religious doctrine over the rights of this fellow human beings.

Well the ones without boy parts at least.

Texas legislator is pushing a law that would give fetuses their own attorneys. That's right, fetuses with lawyers.

Courtesy of The Dallas Morning News: 

The fight over the death of Marlise Muñoz, the pregnant and brain-dead North Texas woman who was left on life support for two months, appears likely to begin again soon at the Capitol. 

A Fort Worth lawmaker is pushing a new state law that would provide representation for fetuses in court hearings — an idea that Muñoz’s family opposes. 

A blood clot caused Muñoz, 33, to collapse at her Haltom City home in November 2013. Two scans taken at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth revealed that she was brain-dead. Her family immediately asked the hospital to remove her from life support, as her husband said she would have wanted. Doctors refused, saying that because she was 14 weeks pregnant, state law compelled them to keep her alive. 

Her parents and husband recall the “torture” of watching her body deteriorate for two months before a judge ordered the hospital to grant the family’s wishes. 

“We felt that they were pushing aside her wishes — pushing aside our wishes — and using Marlise as an experiment, if you will, to see how long the baby could survive,” said her mother, Lynne Machado. 

The proposal by Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth, would appoint a representative to speak on behalf of the fetus if a pregnant woman is declared brain-dead or otherwise permanently incapacitated. Krause is working with legislative bill-drafters and has yet to introduce a specific measure in the House. 

“You’ll hear what the family wants, and you’ll also give the pre-born child a chance to have a voice in court at that same time,” Krause said. “The judge weighs everything and he or she makes their decision based on that.”

Watching your loved one deteriorate because there is a life growing inside that has no hope of survival. Does not get muhc more macabre than that.

So of course we can all see where this is going and what it could mean for women thinking of getting an abortion. It will not be long before Texas starts to assign lawyers to embryos the minute the plus sign shows up on the pregnancy test.

Of course once the little bastard is born, Texas could not give two shits about them.

The Republicans are not only systematically dismantling a woman's right to choose, they are destroying women's rights in general.

The New York Times has an article out bemoaning the outcome of this last election and what the increased numbers of Republicans in public office will mean for women in this country.

In the article it lists some of the most egregious results from the passage of "personhood" amendments around the country, and how it has turned innocent women into convicted criminals.

Take a look:

In Iowa, a pregnant woman who fell down a flight of stairs was reported to the police after seeking help at a hospital. She was arrested for “attempted fetal homicide.” 

In Utah, a woman gave birth to twins; one was stillborn. Health care providers believed that the stillbirth was the result of the woman’s decision to delay having a cesarean. She was arrested on charges of fetal homicide. 

In Louisiana, a woman who went to the hospital for unexplained vaginal bleeding was locked up for over a year on charges of second-degree murder before medical records revealed she had suffered a miscarriage at 11 to 15 weeks of pregnancy. 

Florida has had a number of such cases. In one, a woman was held prisoner at a hospital to prevent her from going home while she appeared to be experiencing a miscarriage. She was forced to undergo a cesarean. Neither the detention nor the surgery prevented the pregnancy loss, but they did keep this mother from caring for her two small children at home. While a state court later found the detention unlawful, the opinion suggested that if the hospital had taken her prisoner later in her pregnancy, its actions might have been permissible. 

In another case, a woman who had been in labor at home was picked up by a sheriff, strapped down in the back of an ambulance, taken to a hospital, and forced to have a cesarean she did not want. When this mother later protested what had happened, a court concluded that the woman’s personal constitutional rights “clearly did not outweigh the interests of the State of Florida in preserving the life of the unborn child.” 

Anti-abortion reasoning has also provided the justification for arresting pregnant women who experience depression and have attempted suicide. A 22-year-old in South Carolina who was eight months pregnant attempted suicide by jumping out a window. She survived despite suffering severe injuries. Because she lost the pregnancy, she was arrested and jailed for the crime of homicide by child abuse. 

These are not isolated or rare cases. Last year, we published a peer-reviewed study documenting 413 arrests or equivalent actions depriving pregnant women of their physical liberty during the 32 years between 1973, when Roe v. Wade was decided, and 2005. In a majority of these cases, women who had no intention of ending a pregnancy went to term and gave birth to a healthy baby. This includes the many cases where the pregnant woman was alleged to have used some amount of alcohol or a criminalized drug. 

I found myself shocked that these are stories of what is happening to women right here in America.

So tell me again that there is no war on women.

There was a time when I thought there was a limit to how far conservatives would go to turn women back into breeding stock and take away their rights as equal human beings altogether.

I am no longer under any such illusions.  If the Republicans not stopped there may well come a time when women in this country are considered human beings, with all the same rights as men, ONLY up until they have  a fertilized egg within their womb. And after that they will be relegated to a human incubator and the rights of the zygote growing inside of them will supersede any rights they may have enjoyed before becoming impregnated.

Once again let express my dismay that any woman in this country votes Republican. It is like a cow giving a positive Yelp review to a slaughterhouse.

Kansas legislators pass sweeping anti-abortion bill claiming that "life begins at fertilization."

Courtesy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:  

Kansas legislators gave final passage to a sweeping anti-abortion measure Friday night, sending Gov. Sam Brownback a bill that declares life begins "at fertilization" while blocking tax breaks for abortion providers and banning abortions performed solely because of the baby's sex. 

The House voted 90-30 for a compromise version of the bill reconciling differences between the two chambers, only hours after the Senate approved it, 28-10. The Republican governor is a strong abortion opponent, and supporters of the measure expect him to sign it into law so that the new restrictions take effect July 1. 

In addition to the bans on tax breaks and sex-selection abortions, the bill prohibits abortion providers from being involved in public school sex education classes and spells out in more detail what information doctors must provide to patients seeking abortions. 

The measure's language that life begins "at fertilization" had some abortion-rights supporters worrying that it could be used to legally harass providers. Abortion opponents call it a statement of principle and not an outright ban on terminating pregnancies.

"Not an outright ban on terminating pregnancies." Yeah right.

Essentially these Bible thumping assholes are making it all but impossible for women to get access to the information to help them prevent pregnancies, and then following that up with denying them services which would allow them to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.

Essentially the message to women in Kansas is "You may think that body is yours, but once you take in a little semen, your ass belongs to us!"

If this keeps up it will not be too much longer before you won't be able to throw away a used condoms anymore since it be considered "fertilized."

Ignorant people, making ignorant laws, to help ignorant teenagers, give birth to more ignorant babies.  And people wonder why America has fallen so far behind other industrialized nations in the last twenty years.

The REAL journalists of Al-Jazeera present "Fault Lines: The Abortion Wars."

Look I usually do not ask my visitors to sit and watch anything this long (It is just under 25 minutes) however this is a very important topic, and this report takes an unflinching, and at times uncomfortable, look at the single issue that underlines ALL of American politics these days.

There are interviews with real people on both sides of the issue, including a heart wrenching interview with a pro-life mother taking her sixteen year old daughter to have an abortion and her conflicted feelings about doing so. I thought I knew a lot about the subject, but I certainly came away with a deeper understanding.

By the way I am ALSO pro-life in that I wish there were no abortions as well,

But I am also not arrogant enough to tell a woman, who suddenly finds a life growing inside of her, that she MUST carry this potential human being to term. And besides THAT I am also somebody who advocates that once that child is born we, as a society, have an obligation to provide the opportunity for that child to be well educated and well cared for until they reach the age in which they can care cor themselves.

In other words I am pro-child, NOT pro-fetus.

Lawrence O'Donnell discusses the overwhelming progressive victories from yesterday's elections.

More from the Political Animal:

From coast to coast, Democrats and progressive goals not only won, but in most instances, won big. Some of the highlights: 

Ohio 

Despite the aggressive efforts of the Republican Party, Gov. John Kasich, and anti-labor forces, voters easily overturned restrictions on collective bargaining. With nearly every precinct reporting, Issue 2 got crushed, 61% to 39%, handing unions a major victory with national implications. 

Mississippi 

In a terrific surprise, voters soundly rejected the proposed “Personhood” amendment that would have banned abortions, birth control, in-vitro fertilization, stem-cell research, and treatment of ectopic pregnancies. Opponents of the right-wing effort appear to have won about 57% of the vote. 

Maine 

Republicans recently ended Election Day voter registration. Yesterday, voters brought it back, 61% to 39%.

Republicans did not end the day completely empty handed. Phil Bryant (R) was elected governor in Mississippi, and it looks like the GOP gained just enough seats to split Virginia’s state Senate, though Republicans came up short of their goal of reclaiming a majority. 

But the good news for the right was easily overwhelmed by good news for the left. In Kentucky, Gov. Steve Beshear (D) cruised to an easy victory and Dems won nearly every statewide race; in Arizona, Democrats successfully recalled radical state Senate President Russell Pearce (R); Dems won a key state Senate special election in Iowa and will maintain control of the chamber; voters ignored Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) efforts in New Jersey and kept Democratic majorities in both chambers of the state legislature; and voters in Michigan recalled a far-right Republican state representative, the first-ever successful recall in state history. 

In the words of our very wise Vice President, yesterday was "a big fucking deal."

Progressives should take a moment to pat themselves on the back and then recognize just how powerful and virtually unstoppable they can be when they put aside their petty differences and really  work together.

Now let's take this momentum and start planning for even LARGER victories in the 2012 election cycle.

Because, and I wish I could remember where I first heard this, when the naysayers suggest we cannot work together our response should be, "Yes we can!"

Serious question of the day.

Right now the Republicans are focusing on this "Personhood Amendment" in Mississippi.

Yet they argue AGAINST spending money for children currently living in poverty.

They argue AGAINST spending money on education.

They almost unanimously support EVERY opportunity to go to war.

And the majority supports the death penalty.

So here is my question, "Why do the Republicans care so little for people NOT surrounded by amniotic fluid?"

Any thoughts?