As the pendulum swings

[Shawn]

A column By Mark Morford. What I'm regurgitating here is pale compared to the actual power of his piece. What starts out as a semi-snide report on Oprah's appeal turns into a discussion we'll all need to be having soon. As liberal Supreme Court Justices teeter on not being able to make it through another Bush term, are American women [and in some ways then Canadian women] on the cusp of losing the rights they have aquired over the last 40-100-500 years?

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So there she was, the nation's most powerful and popular public female, kicking butt on a recent installment of her insanely beloved TV show with the help of celeb guests (Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, P. Diddy, Christina Aguilera) and galvanizing stunned women across the nation to participate in this election, or else.

There was Oprah, doing what she does so freakishly well, cheerleading and extolling and impressing upon, getting women up and getting them angry and demanding that they exercise their hard-won right to vote and demanding that they quit dissing their feminist ancestors, the ones who worked so damn hard for suffrage and for freedom of choice and for the right to tell powerful sexist Republican men where they can shove their repressive sexist antichoice bigotry.

This was her fabulous, much-needed message: Take your rights for granted at your peril, ladies. Move, or else. Choose how you want the laws to treat and respect you and your body -- or someone else, someone who hasn't touched a vagina for 30 years and who thinks sex is only tolerable in the dark, fully clothed and with a respectable prostitute, will choose for you.

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[slum_goddess]

thanks for this, shawn. i was amazed when i read it (oprah? hah!) but now am hoping that she can do what so many of our dem. politicians can't--mobilise women to vote for kerry.

[Redneck4sure]

My wife is mobilized........and voting for Bush. :D

[slum_goddess]

somehow i already knew that.

[Shawn]

This seems a proper follow-up.

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The United States has refused to join 85 heads of state and government in signing a statement that endorses a 10-year-old U.N. plan to ensure every woman’s right to education, health care and choice about having children.

President George W. Bush’s administration withheld its signature because the statement included a reference to "sexual rights."

AP stormtroopers

[Kooperman]

This seems a proper follow-up.

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The United States has refused to join 85 heads of state and government in signing a statement that endorses a 10-year-old U.N. plan to ensure every woman’s right to education, health care and choice about having children.

President George W. Bush’s administration withheld its signature because the statement included a reference to "sexual rights."

AP stormtroopers

I never thought I'd say that I was absolutely ashamed of my country's attitudes in relationship to joining together with the world community to make social conditions better throughout the world. Then again, I never though we would elect a president who blatantly disregards human rights and smirks about it. George Bush treats the other countries of the world like unwanted stepchildren who are of no consequence unless they have something we need. No wonder the world dispises us.

[slum_goddess]

Then again, I never though we would elect a president who blatantly disregards human rights

i never thought the supreme court would be allowed to get away w/that fucked Dez 2K decision or now, more than 30 states wanting to mess w/legal abortion, so welcome to amerika-lite (it's the US sans the Consitution). :evil:

[joeyz]

I never thought I'd say that I was absolutely ashamed of my country's attitudes in relationship to joining together with the world community to make social conditions better throughout the world. Then again, I never though we would elect a president who blatantly disregards human rights and smirks about it. George Bush treats the other countries of the world like unwanted stepchildren who are of no consequence unless they have something we need. No wonder the world dispises us.

my feelings exactly :nope: