tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872647804241988041.post8961423408698369100..comments2024-02-08T07:32:20.315-06:00Comments on Steve Bates - Yellow Doggerel Democratic Views: Texas Lege Attempts Back-Door Abortion BanSteve Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07587223243120009776noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872647804241988041.post-90017147596038335102013-03-19T23:27:24.490-05:002013-03-19T23:27:24.490-05:00Oops. Please read "But a time will come...&qu...Oops. Please read <b>"But a time will come..."</b><br /><br />(If I could type, I'd be dangerous!)Steve Bateshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07587223243120009776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872647804241988041.post-22455709244979898742013-03-19T23:21:02.863-05:002013-03-19T23:21:02.863-05:00ellroon, what we can do... specifically, what YOU ...ellroon, what we can do... specifically, what YOU and other women can do... is impose a "Lysistrata" condition on men who are determined to lord it over their ladies. Of course, noting the behavior of right-wingnut men, that might not work as well as one would hope: they seem to have no aversion to prostitutes, children, etc. as sexual objects. Confiscating their paychecks is probably as good an idea as any, but I doubt it would succeed.<br /><br />(Jeebus. Could the Firefox US spell-checker get any worse? Did the dolt who wrote it even learn his English in America? It wants to coerce me to use "tumour" and "pay-check" or "pay cheque" ...)Steve Bateshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07587223243120009776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872647804241988041.post-48941341633399131662013-03-19T23:01:00.748-05:002013-03-19T23:01:00.748-05:00Constance, remember Gandhi: "First they ignor...Constance, remember Gandhi: "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." You don't win instantly, perhaps not even in your lifetime. Civil disobedience, in addition to forcing your opponents to cede the moral high ground, also forces them to deal with you again and again... and again and again... and yet again, each time perhaps in a different and slightly more annoying way. Even the largest jail fills up. Enough of the public is repulsed by flash-bang grenades, tasers and other "nonlethal" weapons that attention starts to focus on the government and their actions, not the protesters and theirs.<br /><br />I believe America as currently constituted is destined for the scrap-heap: a large enough portion of her people have, as you note, reached the don't-care state, and the methods Gandhi used are no longer highlighted by our sorry press and media, damn them to oblivion. But a to,e wo;; come... within a century... when the basics of civilization will go to ground, perhaps in the wake of environmental disaster, and the wealthy and powerful will find that they are neither rich nor mighty in the face of global climate change, atrocious atmospheric and water pollution, etc. Our descendants will then have an opportunity, and they (we'll be long since dead) will find out what their principles are made of.<br /><br />I've never spent a night in jail, though I once performed music in a 19th-century jail made into a 20th-century museum. No protest there, I'm afraid; we got paid to do it.Steve Bateshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07587223243120009776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872647804241988041.post-13033241800143926122013-03-19T10:46:16.513-05:002013-03-19T10:46:16.513-05:00What we can do is demand that any woman forced to ...What we can do is demand that any woman forced to carry a pregnancy to term against her will can sue the state for child support for 18 years. And that it should come out of the salaries of those politicians who voted for this law. Think THAT would get their attention.ellroonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11335409429673647381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872647804241988041.post-74554381436934373412013-03-19T09:14:53.745-05:002013-03-19T09:14:53.745-05:00I agree we need a change in tactics. "He bri...I agree we need a change in tactics. "He brings a knife, you bring a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue." Progressives or democrats or whatever-the-hell you want to label them have been playing by the Marquis of Queensbury rules for decades and we are losing every time. <br /><br />But civil disobedience is no longer an effective strategy. Look at Occupy, look at the Keystone XL. Hell, next weekend is the 10th anniversary of the night I spent in jail for nonviolently protesting the attack on Iraq. Civil disobedience is easily crushed and ignored. Perhaps it's time for some very uncivil disobedience. Although the violent reactionaries in power are revealing themselves as so unhinged, Bog only knows what the result would be.Constance Readerhttp://www.sabreean.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872647804241988041.post-19688392096718457722013-03-19T09:08:13.153-05:002013-03-19T09:08:13.153-05:00Constance, you may be right about getting rid of t...Constance, you may be right about getting rid of the nuts in the Lege, but I am convinced that legal action and civil disobedience are NOT empty threats. The law is very much on our side at the moment (though I wouldn't bet a dime on its being so if Obama appoints one more Supreme Court Justice), and blockading office doors works as well for pro-choicers as for anti-abortion zealots. I'm too old for that sort of stuff, but younger people have more to lose if such a law is put in place, and I'd think a few old-fashioned sit-ins in offices in the Texas Capital might just draw some attention. Or maybe a stink bomb through an Operation Rescue window, in repayment for the stink bomb lobbed into Planned Parenthood in Houston back when I did contract work 25+ years ago. "We're better than that," you say? Maybe we need a change in tactics...Steve Bateshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07587223243120009776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872647804241988041.post-59221513959042053532013-03-19T08:55:11.507-05:002013-03-19T08:55:11.507-05:00But that's the problem Steve - "throw da ...But that's the problem Steve - "throw da bums out" is a an empty threat, and they know it. By the time you can get rid of them they've already done the damage they intended to do. While I'd like to think we could stop them from getting elected in the first place, I'm slapped back to reality by Ted Cruz. He was already outed as full blown Section 8 material long before election day, and he still won. Constance Readerhttp://www.sabreean.comnoreply@blogger.com