Religious Right

Skepticism about Palin has been growing and for a good reason.

I've watched the segment where Sarah Palin talks about Roe vs. Wade and I have to tell you, I think it is one of the most insightful commentaries to come out of her mouth. I think she did a really good job at sounding level headed.

Yet listen to it very closely and what you can hear is an extremist taking her political views for a little mainstream spin and, fortunately for us, coming short.

So let me back track here a bit and go back to and issue that popped up a few weeks ago : Under then Mayor Palin, Wassilla was one of a handful of cities in Alaska that charged victims for rape kits. And what has been most astounding about this policy is Palin's response to the allegations : She claims to have not know about the practice. This from a woman that was voted into office in Wassilla by less than 7,000 votes.

from Talk to Action

As Flip Benham's Operation Save America prepares to besiege the same Birmingham, Alabama clinic bombed by Eric Rudolph, veteran associates of the underground terrorist network calling itself the Army of God prepare to memorialize assassin Paul Hill (left) — complete with a reenactment of the shotgun murder that took the lives of Dr. John Britton and his escort, James Barrett.

Events like these are intended to remind abortion providers that there is a violent underground. But they should also remind the rest of society that there is an armed wing of theocratic activism, to which most turn a blind eye. — Frederick Clarkson

Many also turn a blind eye to the fact that people such as these — "the underbelly of the Christian right ... as scary as anything that ever dwelled in a Tora Bora cave" — have influential associates in some very high places.

from Talk to Action

From the March 18 lead editorial in the Palm Beach Post.

To have fewer abortions, stop subsidizing the lies

Public money should not pay for fear-mongering 'crisis pregnancy centers' that peddle lies about fetal development, contraception and abortion.

Florida, like the federal government, spends millions each year supporting such centers, many of which are run by religious zealots who see abstinence-only as the only alternative to abortion and for whom scientific facts do not matter.
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If reducing abortion is the goal, avoiding unwanted pregnancy is the way to reach that goal. That means investing in centers and schools that provide unbiased, medically accurate, comprehensive information about the benefits of delaying sexual intercourse and the availability of contraception to avoid sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy. Investing in fear and lies guarantees only more unwanted pregnancies and abortions.

Women deserve much more than they're getting from state governments controlled by the religious right, and several Texas Democrats in the 80th Legislature are providing a template for making that happen — in our state and all the others.