So the Religious Right Is Destroying the GOP...

Wow. Just wow. Ex-Christian-fundamentalist (or "Christianist") Frank Schaeffer explained so well last weekend on D.L. Hughley where we're at.



Now let me do my best to follow up.

As we saw last week when President Obama reversed the Bush Era restrictions on stem cell research, the religious right has yelled and screamed itself into a corner. While America hasn't fully recovered yet from "the culture wars", we as a society are quickly moving in that direction. We Americans are more willing to accept science, not reject it. We're becoming more accepting of LGBT people, not less. We're becoming more willing to let women make their own health care decisions, not less. Yet somehow, the Republican Party seems stuck in this early 1980s "Moral Majority" mentality. Why?

Basically, they've become captive to their drones. They promised the religious right that abortion would be recriminalized, queer people would be thrown in jail, and everyone (not arrested for being "degenerate heathens") would magically accept Jesus as their true lord and savior. And now, the religious right wants those promises fulfilled. And as much as their President Dumbya Bush tried, it wasn't enough.

However, there's a problem now. The radical right ideology has failed. Republicans are out of power. And as I mentioned earlier, Americans are getting increasingly sick and tired of the same old "everything will magically get better if we just bash teh gayz & crush teh abortionists & kill off teh feminazis!" song and dance routine.

The Republican Party is defeated. The religious right is irrelevant. So really, why are we still afraid of them?

Why is DOMA still preventing LGBT couples from accessing any basic rights and benefits on the federal level? Why are LGBT solidiers still being expelled from the military under DADT? Why is there still debate over letting women make their own health decisions? And why haven't we already guaranteed women the same equal rights we give to men? Here's a news flash: The culture wars are ending, and we are winning.

So as Congress soon considers legislation to end legalized discrimination, expand women's rights, and overall extend the promise of civil rights for more people, our Democratic leaders need to stop being afraid and start doing the right thing. Same goes for President Obama as he may soon be faced with a decision to actively support these bills. Let the religious right destroy the GOP. They're a shrinking minority. We somehow managed to win the last two elections for them. And as long as they keep their promises to us, we can do the same for them again in 2010 and 2012.

ACTION ALERT: Tell Obama & Congress to Support Family Planning Health Care!

I just found this at TalkLeft. After all the hell progressive/feminist activists raised over needed family planning funds being cut from the economic stimulus package, President Obama may be listening to our concerns after all. And better yet, he may be willing to do something about it!

Women's health advocates were dismayed this week to see the removal of family-planning aid from Congress' economic recovery bill after a push by Republicans to politicize a generally cut-and-dry issue of Medicaid waivers. [...] But the dismay may not last long. A source present at today's White House signing ceremony for the Lilly Ledbetter bill tells me that President Obama gave assurances that the family planning aid would be done soon -- perhaps as soon as next week, when the House is set to take up a spending bill that would keep the government funded until October.

But hey, you know me better than to think I'll just "hope" that Congress just magically includes this in the spending bill next week. No, we need to make it happen!

So what can we do to ensure working-class women can access the health care they need? We talk to President Obama! We call Congress! We take action to make it happen!

It's a shame that so many women have been denied family planning health care for the last eight years simply because Dumbya Bush and his Rethuglican Party have been vehemently opposed to any and all forms of contraception. But now that those @ssclowns are out of office, we have a chance to fix this problem and fully fund the health care that so many women need. Please join me in asking the Democratic leaders in Washington to stand up for the many women who helped put them into office.

ACTION ALERT: Don't Let DC Get Away With Cutting Women's Health Care!

If you're like me, you must be quite irritated right now that President Obama & Democratic Congressional leaders caved into the radical right in tossing needed aid to poor women out of the economic stimulus bill. Well, guess what? We can do something about this travesty!

Sign this petition now, then write your Congresscritters and ask them to support this bill!

Support the Unplanned Pregnancy Prevention Bill
Target: U.S. Congress
Sponsored by: National Partnership for Women & Families
With the goal of moving reproductive rights to the top of the legislative agenda in the 111th Congress, Reps. Diana DeGette, (D-CO) and Louise Slaughter, (D-N.Y), and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), have reintroduced "Prevention First" legislation.

The measure's goals are lofty - to tackle the unacceptably high rate of unplanned pregnancies in the U.S. Currently, half of pregnancies are unintended and half of those end in abortion. The bill would tackle the problem from several angles, by:

* Increasing family planning funding,
* Ending insurance discrimination against women,
* Improving awareness about emergency contraception, and
* Requiring programs to focus on medically accurate sex education.

If we want to reduce the number of abortions in this country, the path is clear - empower women to prevent unintended pregnancies through education and access to contraception. Please sign our petition and urge your elected officials to sign onto this important legislation today!

California

PPIC has a new statewide poll out, and we have some BIG news being made.

The good news:

Obama (D) 56%
McCain (R) 33%

The not-so-good news:

Proposition 4 (mandated parental notification of teen abortion)-
Yes 46%
No 44%

The not-so-bad-but-still-not-good news:

Proposition 8 (same-sex marriage ban)-
Yes 44%
No 52%

If you're in California, please get to work to defeat Props 4 & 8! And no matter where you are, please help us win! As I've said before, PRESIDENT OBAMA IS NOT ENOUGH! We must also win the battles on the state level to make change happen.