NS November 7th, 2006

It’s a big week for the USA. Mid-term elections today (GET OUT THERE AND VOTE!!) which will decide who gets control of the House and the Senate, and Bush’s balls. Dem sweep! Dem sweep! That sounds like a football chant or something. If only we could get as many people who watch football to vote, turnout would go through the roof! Bit sad, isn’t it?

Seriously people, you may think the mid-terms don’t mean that much and so you’re going to sit at home on your lilly pad waiting to see what everyone else decided for you in the big, mean pond of politics (and it’s always the die-hards on either side who vote, so all you fence sitters can’t complain, really), but your vote is precious. Every single one counts (in a perfect world, not in the year 2000) and it’s up to us all to tell our government what we want it to do. It’s time to send a message to Bush and Co. — We Want Our Country Back! Every voice should be heard so that we have a legitimate elected official in the White House, someone the majority of people voted for and believes can lead our country, not just because the other guy seemed worse.

Aside from the all-important mid-term elections, there is another HUGE event happening this week. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear its first major abortion case since Alito was appointed and Roberts becamse Chief Justice. The case being brought forward concerns the constitutionality of the ban on “partial-birth abortions” (called ‘late-term abortive procedure’ in non-emotive and non-manipulative pro-choice lingo) that was passed by Bush into federal law in 2003.

The outcome of the latest challenge could turn on the legal weight given past rulings on the health exception.

In states where such exceptions are allowed, the lists of possible health risks include severe blood loss, damage to vital organs and loss of fertility.

Court briefs noted pregnant women having the procedure most often have their health threatened by cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure or risk of stroke. Doctors are given the discretion to recommend when the late-term procedure should be performed.

“This abortion ban would forbid doctors from providing their patients with the care they believe is safest and best, and would give Congress and states a green light to endanger women’s health when they restrict women’s access to abortion,” said Eve Gartner, a senior staff attorney for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, who will appear before the justices.

If that doesn’t scare you enough to make you want to vote against the idiotic Congressmen who supported that bill, I don’t know what else will. Maybe this guy? In addition to being a gay-hating ‘sanctity of marriage’ antagonist who wants the government to basically come into our bedrooms and supervise our sexual activity (Now, Betty, that moan was a little too enthusiastic, you’re not supposed to actually enjoy sex, you just lay there and take it and hope that it makes a baby), Senator Santorum (R. – PA) is personally opposed to birth control for married couples as well as single people and believes that birth control harms women and society. Listen to the clip here

Our freedom and our basic rights are hanging in a very delicate balance right now. Please vote and push the scales towards a society that is tolerant, just, fair, and that allows us to make decisions about who we love, what we do with our bodies, and what we teach our children. The alternative is just too frightening to contemplate.

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