As long as I live I will never understand US politics...

[Lord Jim]

Yeah, well like that Virgin Painting Patrick hens and chickens said, "Give me libations, or give me a fuck up the ass!"

[Gob]

The hot pink running shoes worn by Texas state senator Wendy Davis during her epic 11-hour filibuster on Tuesday have spawned a torrent of satirical Amazon.com reviews.


'Shoes that never yield to the floor,' one reviewer wrote of the $115 footwear that saw the 50-year-old democrat stand pain-free on the legislature floor and successfully block an anti-abortion bill.

Another adds: 'The snazzy hot pink color brings out your inner badassness [sic] and helps you to "humbly give voice to thousands of Texans" and stop a "raw abuse of power" in its tracks.'

http://www.amazon.com/Mizuno-Womens-Wav ... Wave+Rider

[oldr_n_wsr]

Must be a slow news day.

[Gob]

The state legislature in Texas has held a second special session to revive a controversial bill banning abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.



The session was called by Republican Governor Rick Perry after a Democratic senator used a delaying tactic called a filibuster to block a vote last week.

Supporters say the strict law would protect women's health and the foetus.

Critics say the measure would effectively force most abortion clinics to close.

More than 5,000 demonstrators gathered outside the state capitol in Austin on Monday, mostly to oppose the proposed legislation.

Democratic state Senator Wendy Davis told the crowds their raucous support last Tuesday helped her to pull off the filibuster, which lasted for about 12 hours.

"You were at the crux of a turning point in Texas history," Sen Davis told them.

But Texas Republicans have vowed to pass the bill.

"The world has seen images of pro-abortion activists screaming, cheering," Gov Perry said. "Going forward, we have to match their intensity but do it with grace and civility."

Among the demonstrators who turned out on Monday were those who favour the legislation. They prayed outside the Senate.

The proposed bill would ban abortions in Texas after 20 weeks of pregnancy, and require that only ambulatory surgical centres can carry out the procedure.

It would also only allow abortions to be performed by doctors with admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.

Only five of the 42 clinics in the state meet those requirements.

On Monday, the legislative session lasted for less than an hour - just long enough to refer the bill to a committee.

After that, public hearings on the measure must be held before it can come to the floor of each chamber for consideration.

Republican lawmakers have indicated they will try to move the bill along quickly, so it can be passed before the end of the 30-day special session.

Last week's filibuster drew nationwide attention and made Sen Davis a heroine of the US abortion rights movement.

The US Supreme Court legalised abortion nationwide in 1973, but about a dozen conservative states have enacted laws in recent years that seek to limit the procedure.

The bird with the nice norks did a fillibuster, for nothing?

[Scooter]

Hardly for nothing. There's never any harm in letting the misogynists know that they won't be able to force women back to the days of rusty coat hangers at whim.

And Brokeback Perry did himself no favours in his attempt to discredit Davis by dredging up her teenage pregnancy - it made him look bitter and petulant at the very idea that legislators would dare to defy his will.

[dgs49]

Twenty weeks?

That's a fucking BABY! Fully-formed, beating heart. Anyone aborting such a baby ought to be thrown in jail. And shot.

[Big RR]

After they're forced to have the baby so we can put another orphaned child in our orphanages courtesy of Newt. Yep, that's just what we need.

I've seen 24-26 week old premature births and they're not fully-formed babies; they generally cannot breath continuously without assistance, have problems with processing breast milk or formula, and have a host of other problems due to their early births. Twenty weeks is a lot of time before; I'd hardly call them fully formed babies. There's a reason the human gestation period is as long as it is, and it's because that's how long it takes a fertilized egg to develop into a fully formed baby.

[Scooter]

Twenty weeks?

That's a fucking BABY! Fully-formed, beating heart. Anyone aborting such a baby ought to be thrown in jail. And shot.

That is nowhere near all of what the bill was trying to accomplish. Almost every abortion clinic in the state would have been regulated out of existence by new requirements that most full-service hospitals would be hard pressed to meet, while also restricting access to medication-induced abortions. The bill would have banned virtually all abortions in the state.

In any event, the bill is dead for now at least.

[Crackpot]

Actually it's back up again Scoot. Re read Gobs earlier post

[Scooter]

Oops, sorry, that's what I get for not watching the news for a few days.

[Crackpot]

Well you almost improved my opinion of humanity before I noticed the date on the piece.

[dgs49]

Twenty weeks is a fully formed BABY. Not viable, but fully formed. A 20-week abortion is INFANTICIDE.

And your political predecessors called American soldiers "baby killers." If you were capable of shame...

[Crackpot]

You know jack shit about fetal development.

[Scooter]

Add it to the list of things he knows jack shit about while pretending to be an expert.

Including this bill, which is about far more than prohibiting abortions after 20 weeks. But that would be a concept too complex for the lump that passes for his brain to process.

[Big RR]

Twenty weeks is a fully formed BABY. Not viable, but fully formed. A 20-week abortion is INFANTICIDE.

And your political predecessors called American soldiers "baby killers." If you were capable of shame...

Well, since the term "baby" is not a medical term with a precise definition, I guess you can call it what you want, for all the difference it makes. And, FWIW, if it is "fully formed", why is it not "viable"; obviously some organs have yet to be fully developed, wouldn't you think (or do you choose not to think)? Or are you just saying it resembles any fully formed infant; in which case you should go after people who throw away pictures or dolls that resemble a fully formed infant but are not any more viable than a 20 week fetus. And before you start up, no, I do not think they are the same as a 20 wekk old fetus, anymore than I think a 20 week old fetus is a fully formed baby.

And as for my "political predecessors", I have no idea who you are referring to; I know I never called "American soldiers" by the name "baby killers", nor do I no anyone else who had. Well, maybe if a particular soldier or group of soldiers did go in and intentionally kill a baby or babies that name might have been correctly used, but I never did. But don't be ashamed of your ignorance (even if you are "capable of shame"), be ashamed of lies you intentionally make up to prove an indefensible point._

[liberty]

Twenty weeks is a fully formed BABY. Not viable, but fully formed. A 20-week abortion is INFANTICIDE.

And your political predecessors called American soldiers "baby killers." If you were capable of shame...

And as for my "political predecessors", I have no idea who you are referring to; I know I never called "American soldiers" by the name "baby killers", nor do I no anyone else who had. Well, maybe if a particular soldier or group of soldiers did go in and intentionally kill a baby or babies that name might have been correctly used, but I never did. But don't be ashamed of your ignorance (even if you are "capable of shame"), be ashamed of lies you intentionally make up to prove an indefensible point._

When I was as young in the midst of the Cold War, American soldiers were called baby killers by leftist. And Jane Fonda considered anyone who willing joined the military a war criminal. There is a lot I have forgotten , but I still remember that.

[Big RR]

I concede there may well have been some who called US soldiers baby killers (some maybe even proudly, such as "they kill the babies so we won't have to fight them later"); my argument is with those being my political predecessors. Since I never knew anyone who used that term, I cannot comment on their politics, but there is no reason to call them my political predecessors. Indeed, the RC chuch, through priests like Berrigan, was at the forefront of the antiwar movement (Indeed, I remember being at rallies where he spoke), yet it is now at the forefront of the end abortion movement. It's just as likely that those who hurled such epithets are the political predecessors of the anti-abortion movement today.

And that's the point, Dave sees everything as either leftist or right, but there is no standard view on every issue--there are those on the right and left who oppose or support abortion rights. Same with civil rights/liberties. Same with foreign policy. Same with many other issues. There were many, like Fonda, who opposed the US involvement in Vietnam but who held other views (Like the war criminal BS) I totally disagreed with, and I'm sure now hold views I disagree with as well. But I guess to Dave they're all pinkos.

[Econoline]

Back to the Texas legislature...which, I am beginning to realize, *I* will never, as long as *I* live, understand...

[Andrew D]

It's just anti-abortion lunacy brought to you by people who are themselves walking arguments for abortion on demand.

[Gob]

Amid protest and counter-protest, Texas Governor Rick Perry has signed one of the most restrictive abortion bills in the US.

Supporters prayed while critics chanted "Shame!" at the ceremony to sign the bill, which bans abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy.

The Republicans who backed the law say its aim is to improve healthcare.

But critics have vowed to fight the measure, which could force most abortion clinics in Texas to close.

Under the law, abortions can only take place at surgical centres by doctors with hospital admitting privileges.

Only five of the 42 clinics in Texas meet those requirements.