I ... Can't ... Take It ... Anymore

by SusanG
Mon Jan 23, 2006 at 03:49:43 PM PDT

Am I the only one blowing a gasket here?

From AP today:
SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- President Bush told abortion opponents Monday that they are pursuing "a noble cause" and making a real difference in the campaign to recruit more Americans to stand on their side...."This is a cause that appeals to the conscience of our citizens and is rooted in America's deepest principle," the president said. "And history tells us that with such a cause we will prevail."..."You believe, as I do, that every human life has value, that the strong have a duty to protect the weak, and that the self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence apply to everyone, not just to those considered healthy or wanted or convenient," Bush told the abortion foes.
"These principles call us to defend the sick and the dying, persons with disabilities and birth defects, all who are weak and vulnerable, especially unborn children," the president said.

Blown Gasket Point #1: "We" (the royal "we," I have to assume, or the "we" encompassed by the 36 percent of Americans who currently choose Bush over reality) defend the sick and dying, the weak and vulnerable? Arrrrrgggghhhhh! By cutting heating subsidies, screwing up Medicare so that the retired don't get their meds, de-funding Pell grants and other student aid to the poor, kicking wounded veterans to the curb, slashing Head Start and executing the mentally disabled and/or mentally ill? That's how we defend the weak and vulnerable? Words ... fail ... me.

Blown Gasket Point #2: History tells us that with such a cause (rolling back abortion rights), we will prevail.. Really? It does? Too bad I don't have a Yale history degree like the little emperor, because my education pretty much taught me that since the beginning of the republic, rights have been expanding and not contracting. What started out with a franchise and rights for a limited few - property owners of the right color of skin and of the right gender - have fairly consistently been extended to property-less everymen and everywomen. Prohibition and the 18th amendment was the one major exception of taking away existing rights. How'd that work out, little emperor? (Hint: May require reading current Bill of Rights. Proceed with caution. Lots of scary stuff in there.)

Blown Gasket Point #3:...especially unborn children. Really? Especially? Why?
I'm just trying to tune in to the logic here of this fetishization of the fetus, this cult of the blastula. As far as I can tell, the "reasoning" must go something like this: Embryos are innocent and sinless, unlike the rest of humankind, therefore God commands that they are somehow deserving of treatment as a special class (although it's hard to justify the God-induced early miscarriage rate under this argument ... but never mind). But watch out, kiddo. Once you draw that first lungful of breath, sin must get sucked into your lungs like a couple gallons of evil in sick building syndrome, because ... Baby, you are on your own. Yeah, you and your mama too, if she's not of the right economic class. No child care, crappy and undersubsidized health care, no Head Start, no school lunches, no student aid to dig your sorry ass out of the mess you were born into, no federal job training if the conservatives continue their slash and burn budget cuts (but you can join the military, babe). Once you draw that first fateful breath, you're just as worthless as the rest of us ... and part of the growing legion of the discarded, shamed, blamed and forgotten, tossed into the dark corners of our "free" society. Crawl your own way out of the ditch the compassionate conservatives dug for you. Little infants who respirate, be on notice: You are the embarrassing debris left over from the American dream. Get used to it.
After all, we only have so much of an attention span, and there are many, many other embryos out there clamoring for God-blissed attention - and a hell of a lot more than we've become accustomed to if Roe is overturned.