“In every society, there are two critical lists: acceptable conditions for having a baby, and acceptable conditions for having sex. . . . It was only with the widespread acceptance of contraception in the middle of the 20th century, creating an upheaval in the public psyche in which sex and babies no longer went hand-in-hand, that the two lists began to diverge.”
— Jennifer Fulwiler
Year: 2010
Feminists OK With Women in Panties Selling Beer. Pro-Life Ads? Not So Much
Sarah Palin nailed the National Organization of Women for trying to prevent CBS from airing a pro-life ad during the Super Bowl:
“My message to these groups who are inexplicably offended by a pro-woman, pro-child, pro-life message airing during the Super Bowl: please concentrate on empowering women, help with efforts to prevent unexpected pregnancies, stay consistent with your message that for too long women have been made to feel like sex objects in our ‘modern’ culture and that we can expect better in 2010.”
The man-haters whine that they’ve been misunderstood:
NOW President Terry O’Neill said that Palin is “missing our point.”
“The goal of the Focus on the Family ad is not to empower women. It’s to create a climate in which Roe v. Wade can be overturned,” O’Neill said. “There are always going to be women who need abortions. In this country, one in three women will have an abortion.”
“Focus on the Family has cynically set it up so they can say anyone who disagrees with airing this ad is disrespecting one woman and her choice. NOW respects every woman’s right to plan her own family and insists our laws do the same,” said O’Neill.
Feminists against cynical manipulation of issues? That would be something new.
The ad in question shows Tim Tebow and his mother discussing the medical difficulties of her pregnancy, during which she was urged to abort the future University of Florida quarterback — a decision that would have spared her child the unbearable pain of losing the SEC title to Alabama.
OK, you knew I had to take that shot at Tebow. (Roll Tide!) But seriously, while the man-haters at NOW tried to prevent the Tebow ad from being shown during the Super Bowl, they haven’t mounted a similar protest against Budweiser ads featuring scantily-clad babes. Chris Stirewalt of the Washington Examiner explains:
In terms of Super Bowl ads, “sexist” is code for “anti-abortion.” But “sexist” does not apply to parading women around in their underpants to sell beer.
Got it?
Yeah, but real men don’t need women parading around in underpants to sell them beer. NTTAWWT.
UPDATE: Liberals have developed a brilliant new communication strategy: Twitter trolls. They lurk on the #TCOT (Top Conservatives On Twitter) feed, then post derogatory responses. After I Tweeted this post, one such creature responded by calling me “Bullshit artist” and “Douchebag,” before Tweeting this:
I triple dog dare you to print my comment on your blog, Mr. Dishonest Fuckwit. 🙂
The comment (submitted with a bogus e-mail address, of course) was approved:
As usual conservatives like yourself and Palin can’t even argue the issue at hand. You develop a strawman . . . and then present that to your ignorant followers as fact so that they never face the inherent nihilism of conservative “values.”
Exit question: Does feminism deprive people of a sense of humor, or are humorless people just naturally attracted to feminism?
UPDATE II: In the comments, Amanda Read links to her post on this subject, featuring video of Americans United for Life’s Charmaine Yoest debating Erin Matson of the National Organization for Women Parading Around in Their Underpants:
The Astroturf ‘Expert’
Ed Morrissey highlights how an Obama administration health-care consultant was also a major media source on the health-care plan:
When MIT economics professor Jonathan Gruber allowed himself to be quoted by numerous media outlets about his sunny analyses of ObamaCare, including a big push by Peter Orszag on his OMB site and in challenging reporters to use Gruber’s conclusions, Gruber never bothered to mention that he was receiving money through HHS to provide consultation on health-care reform.
Sen. Chuck Grassley is now asking questions. Read the whole thing.
‘You Convicted Him on Twitter’
Andrew Breitbart gets into a fascinating argument with MSNBC’s David Shuster here.
Via Nice Deb. Much more blog reaction at Memeorandum.
UPDATE: Jill Stanek notes that the Washington Post has already been forced to correct and clarify its first report on James O’Keefe’s arrest.
Hopeless Choice
“President Obama’s book is called The Audacity of Hope. Abortion is the abandonment of hope. When a person chooses abortion they are saying they don’t have hope for the future, not for their child or for themselves.”
— Fr. Robert Bruso
At the Scott Brown Victory Celebration, Old Ebbitt Grill
by Smitty
Stacy and I are at the Old Ebbitt Grill for the Scott Brown victory celebration.
This is an important test of the team blogging concept.The crowd is festive, the brew is cold and the venue lacking room for this many attractive conservatives.
The staffers, of course, don’t show up on digital film, but we can show you a few other attendees. Stacy will update this post later with actual names, as I lack his impressive memory for people who can buy beer with facts.
The Nokia97 in the previous photo is a jolly good modem, and we’ve got two SD cards for the Barbie Cam, in all its bubble-gum glory. Thus, at CPAC next month, we should be able to get our blog on, irrespective of any room crunches on Blogger Row. Because we’re tough like that. Tougher still, now, will be if we can get Da Tech Guy on scene. I’m told that he can improve the bandwidth of a cel phone modem with a special Sicilian hand rub, though I am privately dubious on the point.
Very quickly, before the battery dies on me, this blog would like to offer a large thank you to Shannon Burns of Victory Solutions, a fine host and American.
The Battle of Fitchburg: More About the Pro-Life Fight in Massachusetts
The day I left Massachusetts last week, Da Tech Guy picked up his local newspaper in Fitchburg and learned that Planned Parenthood was planning to open a clinic on Main Street — funded by federal stimulus money.
The Battle of Fitchburg is rapidly becoming a national cause for the pro-life movement. Da Tech Guy post photos of today’s protests and the Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise reports:
Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Melanie Lown said Wednesday that Planned Parenthood officials did not want to comment on today’s planned protest.
“We have made that decision, but we are looking forward to going to the City Council meeting on Feb. 2,” Lown said.
Planned Parenthood officials were invited to the Feb. 2 meeting after a contentious meeting last week during which six city councilors voted to draft a resolution urging Planned Parenthood not to come to Fitchburg.
But Marie Sturgis, executive director of Mass Citizens for Life, was unmoved by [Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts CEO Dianne] Luby’s assertion that no abortions will be performed in Fitchburg.
“They will be doing abortion referrals no doubt, because that’s a very important piece of what they do,” Sturgis said. . . .
State Rep. Stephen DiNatale, D-Fitchburg, said the protest shows that Planned Parenthood “just raises a lot of issues for the community.”
“And we don’t have any say in it,” said DiNatale, who supported the City Council resolution.
USA Today noticed today and pro-life blogger Paul Anthony Melanson wrote:
Whatever became of President Obama’s decision to disallow a “family planning provision” from the economic stimulus package?
Indeed. Because federal taxpayer dollars are involved, the Battle of Fitchburg is everybody’s fight. Planned Parenthood’s Dianne Luby doesn’t think pro-lifers are serious:
“I think it is common that people don’t want protesters and those types of things that sometimes occur when we go into a community, but as soon as anti-choice folks realize we don’t provide abortion services there, they don’t protest.”
She used the organization’s Somerville location as an example.
“We had protesters at that location for one day and now we have no protesters,” she said.
Protesters for one day? I don’t know about Somerville, but I spent six days in Fitchburg. It’s a tough blue-collar town and I don’t expect the pro-life people there will give up without a fight. Massachusetts pro-lifer Jay G. explains the rationale of today’s protest:
One purpose is to make the prospective landlord and business people and other neighbors very uncomfortable about having such a death dealing and controversial tenant moving into downtown Fitchburg.
My money says the Battle of Fitchburg will end with Planned Parenthood in full retreat.
Worse than Maddow and Olbermann
“David Shuster is the real sin at MSNBC. . . . He’s not a reporter. He’s a small-market shock jock they send to cover hurricanes and car-chases.”
— Ace of Spades, talking about Shuster’s fight with Andrew Breitbart