By far my favorite fundraising event of the year is tomorrow night, NARAL Pro-Choice Washington’s annual Chocolate for Choice, a celebration of two worthy causes: the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and of course, chocolate. Featuring generous tastings from over 40 local bakers and chocolatiers, my daughter and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
7:00 – 9:00pm
Safeco Field, First Base Terrace Club
1250 1st Ave. S, Club Level, Seattle
Once again I’ll be attending as a “VIP Chocolate Tasting Judge,” along with such local luminaries as Sally Clark, Joe McDermott and Larry Phillips, and fellow word-mongers Erica C. Barnett and Lindy West (together we’ll comprise the ghosts of Stranger past, present and future), an honor I’ve long considered to be one of the few perks of blogging. And while my advanced age prevents me from enjoying quite as much chocolate as I used to, I look forward to living vicariously through the youthful pancreas of my chocoholic daughter.
Anyway, great event, great cause. Be there.
You ought to at least make sure it is not evil chocolate, i.e. made from the blood of near-slave laborers. Fair trade and organic.
My favorite writer on the issue of choice:
http://mypage.direct.ca/w/writ.....l#abortion
I support all reproductive options for women because one of my core values is to advocate for the maximum possible personal freedom and empowerment for EVERYONE.
It helps that Joyce Arthur is also a feminist, atheist and free thinker. You don’t have to agree with everything someone like Joyce has to say – at the very least celebrate the no-holds-barred attitude. Gutsy stuff.
is the term freethinker akin to empty headed?
baby-killers eating chocolate to celebrate ending innocent life?
here’s another fetus ripped out of mommy’s tummy, let’s have an chocolate almond cluster.
3 – Free thinking accepts facts like 1) abortion will be practiced whether the procedure is legal or not – might as well make it safe, 2) the abortion rate is highest in those countries who restrict abortion the most, 3) Canada which has NO laws regulating abortion of any kind has a lower rate of abortion than the U.S. which has a thicket of regulations on abortion.
I can go on and on….
You don’t like abortion – fine, don’t have one. Don’t like people who support abortion – fine, you don’t have to associate with them. I celebrate your right to be an idiot.
so freethinkers, what do you think about this freethinking abortionist who murdered lots of innocent life?
re 3 and 5: ‘Vengeance is mine saith the Lord’
That kind of swill you are promulgating gets doctors murdered.
If you were saying that stuff aloud in my presence, I would take it as a threat to physical violence, and take appropriate measures — AZ style.
5 – Educate people about contraception and you’ll see a lot less of that kind of thing. Empower women and you’ll see a lot less of that.
But I don’t think you believe in any of that.
That doctor was unlicensed and has to answer to what he did. You’ll see MUCH MUCH MORE of that kind of guy if the procedure is criminalized as is your fantasy.
@6
And congresswomen shot and bombs planted at MLK Day parades…
@5
That’s horrific and it’s good that he’s being prosecuted. We know from experience that if abortion were illegal horrors like you’ve pointed out would happen more often, not less. We, also, know that if we were more open and honest about sex ed, contraception, and sexuality, things like this would happen less often.
Think this asshole cares about violence he/she foments?
And why don’t these hypocrites care about what happens to the kid AFTER They exit the womb. All bets are off then…
Pro-Life my ass. Call it what it is…
…FORCED BIRTH.
@Rujax: Check your email!
@YLB: I’d like to discuss how to meet up and exchange contact info — this weekend or next week. Pick a time and location and I’ll come to you.
Trust women.
So is Dr. Kermit Gosnell a Serial Killer based on the charges and evidence presented to the Grand Jury? If the babies were actually born and then killed, is that murder?
The guy was never inspected the past 17 years despite concerns.
How did he get away with this mass murder?
Is there a difference between Gosnell and Jeffrey Dahmer/Ted Bundy etc.??
If so, what?
Should Gosnell be executed if found guilty?
pro abortion but here to play devils advocate…
In the near future lets say they found a way to determine whether a child would be born homo sexual, What do you all suppose would happen if some conservative young woman decided to get a abortion just because of that… or even a liberal young woman because she didn’t want her child growing up in a environment he may not be totally accepted and would face various kinds of institutional discrimination.
16 – Ok in my book. A person like that is obviously NOT READY to be a parent or enough of a parent.
Again education is paramount. Look how far we’ve come with marriage equality. Shit, gays can now serve openly in the U.S military! I didn’t expect that to happen right up to the moment it did happen.
Social approbation counts for much. Once upon a time it’s ok to have a beer at lunch during the workday – later it isn’t. So one time it’s frowned upon to take that genetic test and another time everyone is shaking their heads wondering if you’ve lost your mind. This will encourage people to get educated or even change institutions as you mentioned.
Right wing budget cutting?
That is a profoundly STOOPID question.
YLB @18 you failed to answer the question.
If guilty, should this abortionist be executed?
If not, why not?
Zotz: Look at the profile on my blog. Right column.
19 – You failed to ask a question worth my time. I mean it’s a shockingly stupid question. Anyone with an ounce of brains would probably be shocked that I’m even wasting this much time with it.
re 19: Here’s a hypothetical question for you:
If you accept the proposition, as Republican lawmakers did during the debate on healthcare, that it is reasonable for taxpayers to insist that the government not use tax monies to fund abortion because they were morally opposed to asbortion, is it then not logical for people who are morally opposed to war to get written into law that their tax money not be used for war?
Hope it’s Dark Chocolate!
@16
We already have pre-natal screening for a wide spectrum of diseases and disorders and fetuses with more profound disorders and Down Syndrome (no S it’s not Down’s) are aborted at a fairly high rate. 80% or something like that.
I’ve worked with adults with developmental disabilities for a really long time and I’ve never seen any evidence that there’s a left/right break or preference in terms of who’s had the kids, rather than an aborted, or who’s done a better job or loves their kids more. The more I thought about it, the more I decided it was really fucked up that I was even asking myself if such a break exists.
I think that the strategery mavens on the right do not really care about the morality of abortion. What they are really after is control of everyone’s behavior on the grounds of their Puritanical moral strictures.
In other words, it’s a foot in the door for theocracy.
And furthermore, if the old lady next door has a black cat and your 12 year old niece is suddenly hysterical, youy’d best tell your pastor about it. She’s probably a witch.
@20, YLB: You’ve got mail!
@24 Then we can talk about Tay-Sachs…
@19
I’ll take the bait.
First. I’m anti-death penalty, so no I don’t think he should get the needle or whatever. I’m not morally apposed to the death penalty. I think it’s too easy for the fuckers that commit horrid crimes, it’s expensive, it shines a light on people who shouldn’t have one shown on them, and it’s never been shown to act as a deterrent. It’s just bad policy.
Second. Was this murder, or was it negligence? Or was it, unfortunately, legal? Medical procedures don’t always go as planned. If these were procedures that didn’t go as planned were they simple (I think that’s the right term) or gross negligence? When someone’s preforming abortions there are always a chance that some wont go as planned. American’s have a lot of abortions. Maybe that’s just the outcome of performing lots and lots of abortions? Were these fetuses/infants truly viable? Maybe it was making the best of a really bad situation and ending a life quickly, rather than letting the fetus/child live for a short while in pain and then die anyway?
Yep, and it’s the right, not the left, that’s always screaming that we’re over regulated and that government needs to get out of the way and let people do what they want (unless it isn’t what the right wants them to do…)
I think, at this point, we can say that in this case proper regulation of the doctor failed and that they erred on the side of not enough. I think we can say that he should have, at the very least, been not allowed to practice on his own and that maybe he should have had his license yanked. I think we can say, that the state of PA needs to look at how it regulates doctors (remember, the right has always wanted fewer regs and the right of people to sue doctors restricted).
If he was killing viable fetus’s/children he should go to jail for the rest of his life. If the woman who died while under his care died from some sort of gross negligence he should go to jail. But, right now, all we know is that something went horribly wrong.
@27
I’d never heard of Tay-Sachs. Eesh. I guess the best you could do is tell the woman that, whatever she decides, you’ll still be there and you’ll still love her. And, maybe, tell the local politicians and clergy that want to poke around in her uterus and decide things for her to take a flying leap.
Mmmm. Ms. Wingnut and I both love dark chocolate.
I’ll send you an email as well, YLB. I want to stay in touch with you after this blog is gone. It’d be really great to meet you one of these days.
@29
I was referring to the infantile form.
The doctor was charged with murder and the prosecutor might seek the death penalty.
http://www.reuters.com/article.....1G20110119
I’m sure the troll has a hardon with this news and will want to paint all liberals as baby-murdering monsters. Whatever. Like I could give a flying fuck what any troll thinks.
This “vengeance” sounds like one of our veteran trolls, but I can’t figure out who. It might be Maxie; the degree of self-righteous venom in his tone is comparable.
@19, 32
Yep, he can spend the rest of his life living in jail and completely forgotten.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12233616
Hmmmm ,,,
chocolate … the best way to get your medical MJ!
Should all abotions be illegal?
NO
Should late term abortions be illegal? (viable baby)
YES
Should there be exceptions for the very rare instances of danger to the mother, late detected terminal birth defects?
YES
Should any of this be paid for by Big Daddy Government?
NO
Pretty easy, NO?
@32
No, Not all Liberals. Just that one…
The descriptions of his “abortions” murders are chilling.
He is nothing but an oxygen thief who needs to expire.
@37
So far we don’t know what, if any, political thoughts or leanings the man had. And besides, not all members of the right are anti-choice.
@37
I’d rather see him locked away and forgotten about, but you wont hear me complaining if what’s been alleged is true and he gets the death penalty.
@38
True enough. I was riff’n on what old Steve-o had commented. We in fact have no info with regards to his political leanings. And I might add, who cares….
The sooner he gets his day, the sooner he expires.
If the allegations are true, may rats gnaw on his balls while he rots in the state penitentiary.
Someone needs to cut this assholes spinal cord..with no anesthesia.
justice served.
@5, &9: If this guy committed murder/malpractice he should be prosecuted. The real tragedy here is a society that forced poor women to see this as their only choice.
As to the murder of “innocent life”, if you don’t believe the mother should be equally prosecuted for commissioning the “crime” then you are not making a serious moral argument, and ignoring your special mysogynist pleadings will be doing both of us a favor.
@42: Yes. Guilty until proven innocent. Another conservative jerk shows his true colors.
Dr Kermit Gosnell He ain’t a conservative jerk, except in bizarro world of leftist thought.
But then again neither was Jared Loughner a conservative jerk. Remember Jared hated GW Bush, among his other leftist “attributes”.
Moseley Braun: “You wound up being the person tagged with making that, quote, ‘compromise’ happen.”
Emanuel: “That’s a fair question, and I’ll explain it. president Obama was determined to get his health care bill passed. There were 14 votes that were holding up, and my job as chief-of-staff was to help the president get that legislation.”
Moseley Braun: “And so you threw women under the bus?”
Emanuel: “I came up with an idea for an executive order to allow the Stupak-Amendment not to exist by law but by executive order, and it was good enough for Nancy Pelosi, who held up in honors by people like NARAL and Planned Parenthood who supported that bill and supported the way to make progress.”
As I said earlier, the OdumbaCare bill funds abortions no matter what you HA leftists claim. Emanuel should know being Odumba’s ex-right hand man!
Heh, Spuddy…
Nobody gives a shit what you think. You’re a moron.
Yes, please don’t feed the Puddy.
DeathFrogg, Another ad hominem attack. No facts just hate. Isn’t the old adage it takes one to know one appropriate here? YES IT IS! You can keep your shit. You wallow in it all the time.
Michael, You don’t feed me. Leftist MSM and blogs do!
Keep up the your losing attitude. I post facts.
re 48: Fact one: At the surface, on average weighs 1027 kg/m3, or just over 64.1 lbs per cubic foot.
Fact Two: The net jobs gained during 2010 stands at 613,000, which is over half of the 1,080,000 jobs were created during the entire time George W. Bush was in office.
Fact three: glossolalia [Mod. L., from Gr. glôsso- (from glôssa, tongue), and lalia, a speaking, from lalein, to speak, of echoic origin.] an ecstatic or apparently ecstatic utterance of unintelligible speechlike sounds, viewed by some as a manifestation of deep religious experience
Of course our right-wing friends will bring up the horrors of Kermit Gosnell and try to tar women’s reproductive rights with this seeming criminal – who seems in part to have been motivated by money, like a good capitalist. And to have preyed on the underclass, the poor, the uninsured, the immigrant, again like a good capitalist.
From what I’ve read, he made millions, and had lots of cash lying around. He also maintained squalorous conditions of both ordinary filth and bizarrely kept body parts – suggesting an element of the crazy.
This horrific situation, in which he masqueraded as an actual doctor (despite the MD, what he was doing was not the practice of medicine) – was very likely worsened by a lack of professional oversight. The appropriate licensing agencies did not inspect for a prolonged time – likely due to lack of resources. Yet another product of the right-wing drive to delegitimize and destroy our government.
This awful scenario was brought about in conditions our right wing brethren work to hard to attain: a large, hopeless and option-less poor class being fodder for any schemer to exploit without the annoying nags of government regulations impeding the holy act of making money.
If this says anything about abortion, it is a reiteration that women, and the men and women who love them, need access to safe and effective medical care, they need the resources and education and support to maintain autonomy and to be able to make the choices that best serve their interests. Denying women reproductive health care – including but not limited to abortion and effective birth control – is an affront to their civil and human rights, and is a BIG BIG plank of the teahaddist agenda.
@45, 48
On ignore list.
This fool preyed on the poor. So how can you claim this is the result of right-wing actions when Philly has been run by an iron fist by liberals forever. Moronic commentary above!
So Prove It Otherwise!
cake for dead kids party?