Posted on 03/03/2012 8:01:11 AM PST by grey_whiskers
By now, nearly the entire known universe has at least heard of the controversy over Sandra Fluke. However, a passing acquaintance based on sound-bytes and snippets is never the best basis for action, and is in fact fertile ground for the propaganda ministers of the left. This piece will give a brief recap of the situation, and then discuss the lay of the land. (Pun intended, if you like it.)
Back in the GOP primary debate on January 7, George Stephanopoulos asked Mitt Romney(RINO-Bain) whether he believed that states have the power to ban contraception. This puzzled Romney, and was widely regarded at the time as a “Win The Future” type question. However, the topic was not left alone for long, when it was revealed that the new Obamacare regulations would eliminate the freedom of conscience exception for Catholic organizations, requiring the Catholic employers (explicitly) to pay for abortion services for their employees. (This was neither a fluke (sorry!) nor an accident, by the way. Across the pond in Dhimmi Old England, a British Court has already ruled that Catholic midwives can be required to participate in abortions. More on this later.)
But Obama and his cadre of Marxist bulldyke controllers overplayed their hand: the long-slumbering Catholic Church woke up, and a firestorm ensued. After a few days, Obaama beat a hasty “retreat” : the regulations would be interpreted such that the the Catholic organizations would not have to pay for abortions and/or contraception directly, but their insurance would: forcing the Church organizations to act in loco infanticida, as it were.
As a result of this EPIC FAIL public relations disaster, and coupled with Obama’s realization that he needed to shore up core liberal constituencies in order to try to stave off his defeat in the upcoming Presidential elections, the spin teams in the Democratic Party (that is to say, the LameStream Media) decided to re-cast the entire debate from what it was, an attempted destruction of the Freedom of Religion clause in the Constitution, into an UNHoly Jihad for Womyn’s HealthTM (1). In a liberal’s worldview, both contraception and abortion are functionally equivalent, the only difference being the cost and the convenience to the woman involved, since all moral considerations have already been thrown out the window.
Enter Sandra Fluke. (Yes, I know. Another pun.) She was heralded as a precocious 23-year old co-ed who had just entered Georgetown Law School, who selflessly gave of herself (no, not that way) (at least we hope not) to testify before Congress because of her very genuine distress over what religious extremists were trying to do to womyn’s health care in this country.
Yeah, right. And I’m Joan of Arc.
Her facade fell apart almost immediately, in part due to the excellent job Rush Limbaugh did at exposing her and making fun of her before a national audience: to be followed in short order by the entire right, and some of the non-committed, blogosphere.
Her argument, stripped of its sententious fatuity, was this:
1) I (and the womyn I represent) want to sleep around.
2) I’m going to a $40,000/year Law School and I’m too cheap to buy the pill.
3) My boyfriends won’t even spring for condoms.
4) I’m too proud to use the Lewinsky method.
5) Therefore I have a right to other people’s money to pay for it.
6) By the way, it’s $3,000 to pay for it.
7) Pay up, you sexist misogynist Neanderthals.
Of course, this fails on multiple levels. The first (and fatal mistake) was her attempt to be self-righteous over sin. Nobody was judging her UNTIL she put her face on national TV and demanded that other people pay for her sexual habits. And the second FAIL was to lie about the money. This is the Obama economy: and other people have got used to economizing, and were able to tell within minutes that there is no way in HELL that contraception costs $1000 / year: aside from the “free” clinics which her ilk had already agitated for, generic birth control pills are available at discount stores for $9 / month. Unless of course she was using condoms, in which case, based on retail prices, she would be having sex somewhere between three and seven times A DAY, every day, to incur these costs. (And even if she were, why can’t the guys who are doing her pay for it, speaking of disrespecting womyn?)
And just as her argument fell apart almost immediately, so did her front story.
According to Gateway Pundit, and other sources, Sandra Fluke is a 30-year-old women’s rights activist and President of the “Law Students for Reproductive Justice” (whatever that is!) who decided to attend Georgetown for the express purpose of changing their policy on providing contraceptives.
In other words, in addition to being a whore in her personal life, per Limbaugh’s definition, she’s a political whore, too.
But Sandra Fluke’s personal life, purported public image, and scripted talking points are only a few of the heads on this hydra. Remember, the real movers behind this are committed Marxists, who don’t let a trivial thing like a few decades stand in their way.
Let’s look at quotes from some of the players in this game, and consider the ramifications of the provisions of Obamacare, in addition to past historical Marxist / Feminist practice, to get a feel for where this might be going.
First, Obama’s secretary of Health and Human Services, Darth Sibelius, going by the given name of Kathleen. Remember her? She’s the one who had ties to the Kansas abortionist George Tiller (see Human Events, and Real Clear Politics for more).
Oh, and by the way, she is also the one who had her nomination to the Cabinet pushed through on an emergency basis, ostensibly because of the dire threat of Swine Flu.
Did I just say Swine Flu? Cricket flu is more like it, because we haven’t heard another thing about it since then.
So that’s who Sibelius is. What are her views?
Look at the following exchange between Sibelius and Rep. Tim Murphy(Who?- PA), as reported on the *liberal* site thinkprogress.org:
MURPHY: So you’re saying by not having babies born, we’re going to save money on health care?
SEBELIUS: Providing contraception as a critical preventive health benefit for women and for their children reduces health care.
MURPHY: Not having babies born is a critical benefit? This is absolutely amazing to me.
Now, taken in isolation, this might not be so bad: pregnancy costs are in fact considerably more than contraception — even though in truth, some of the blame for that can be placed on Democrats such as former Democrat Vice Presidential Candidate John Edwards, who more or less claimed before a jury in a malpractice trial that he could hear a baby in the womb. (Even aside from Rielle Hunter — and by the way, why didn’t he push for *her* to have an abortion?), this proves that politics really does make for strange bedfellows!)
So we have the cost containment issue for pregnancy.
But we also have the government moving in to consolidate gains over family life in other areas, such as the recent case of an anonymous “inspector” confiscating a young child’s lunch of turkey and cheese on white whole wheat, chips, and apple juice in favor of...breaded chicken nuggets? The usurpation is bad enough (and did anyone check to see if the food service company had given contributions to the local Democrats?), but it reinforces the idea that the government knows best, when it comes to *having* children, to the *raising* of children...
Now combine this with the past practice and historical roots of the abortionists: Margaret Sanger, who gave an *invited* speech to the KKK, was a staunch advocate of eugenics. Nor indeed, were her ideas limited to the ineffectual kook fringe: one of her associates, Lothrop Stoddard, was a Harvard PhD who actually visited Nazi Germany and visited a German court which decided which people would be involuntarily sterilized. Far from being scandalized, he thought they were too conservative in their opinions: he said that the eugenics laws were “being administered with strict regard for its provisions and that, if anything, judgments were almost too conservative”, and that the law was “weeding out the worst strains in the Germanic stock in a scientific and truly humanitarian way”. (Yes, it’s from Wikipedia, but the quotes are linked to books from Oxford University Press and University of Vermont press, with ISBNs which check out. Incidentally, the photo of Stoddard on Wikipedia bears an uncanny resemblance to Snidely Whiplash.)
And if you don’t like Godwin’s Law, you can revisit Merrie Old England. In addition to the court ruling above requiring Catholic midwives to participate in abortion
“The nature of their duties does not in fact require them to provide treatment to terminate pregnancies directly,” she said.
“They are sufficiently removed from direct involvement as, it seems to me, to afford appropriate respect for and accommodation of their beliefs.”
we have the bioethicists quoted in the U.K. Telegraph who say that
parents should be allowed to have their newborn babies killed because they are “morally irrelevant” and ending their lives is no different to abortion.
Remember: Obaamacare is about containing costs; and the central contention of the government with regard to Obamacare, is that it’s just fine for the government to compel you to buy things against your will, for the greater good. It’s all about healthcare!
From that point, and combining with the idea that contraception is a “health-care right,” how long will it be before the chance to give birth is itself regulated? (”You don’t have the money to provide a happy home” to “you are ideologically unfit” to “one child per family — we have to save the planet, you stupid breeder!”)
They’re already doing this in China: and recall that many of the cognoscenti, from Valerie Jarret to Thomas Friedman, openly revere Mao and China.
All hands on deck! We are fighting the hydra for our very survival.
(1)And yes, I chose “Jihad” over the more familiar “Crusade” because “Jihad” implies forceful domination, whereas Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery “Go and sin no more” as opposed to “Have some condoms, dear.”
Rebroadcast *PING*.
Been data logging lately?
GW—excellent essay.
Fluke is no fluke—this was orchestrated Demon kabujki theater, another part of the chanin that started in nthe GOP debate where George Stephanapoulos asked the question on “contraception” to Santorum.
Looking back, you can see this was the start of this “campaign”.
Another question for the slut:
Why do I have to pay for YOUR “choice”?
Well said.
Post 4: kabujki = kabuki; chanin = chain.
Post in haste, post corrections in leisure.
Ms Fluke claims you need $3k to buy birth control pills over three years in Georgetown, DC. If you go to Walgreens....which I doubt any of these ladies have ever been in a Walgreens or Wal-Mart....then you could have bought your yearly birth control for about $300, without health insurance. The simple truth is that she’s proven she is fairly naive about shopping or doing drug store business. If you believe her scale on prices....then Vicks ‘44’ cough medicine ought to be costing $26 a bottle (you can buy it for $6.29).
It’s about deflection, diverting away from Obama, reframing from negative Obama stuff to contrived negative Republican stuff by creating issues where there were none.
To get the negative focus off Obama and what he’s really screwing up. Media more than happy to go along with it.
If this girl is really a fraud and a fake, this needs to get into the MSM.
But if the MSM is controlled by the left, will the MSM ever report any of this back story?
Can we meet Sandra’s boyfriend? Just wondering who he is, does he contribute to birth control, and all of that.
Thank you for pointing out the ‘story behind the story’ - the GOP and conservative media and pundits got played ‘hook, line and sinker’ - including Rush, and the candidates.
The White House plants a question with Stepinfetchit in a debate. Subject becomes a meme. Pelooosi holds a fake hearing. White House supports Fluke, in collusion with the media - (phone call from Zero minutes before national TV appearance, anyone?)
And all this leading to a headline from yesterday -’ GOP targets women’s health.’
The White House and the media controlled the agenda, and the GOP?
Got suckered into it, Hook, line and sinker.
Gulp.
Sure, just call half the numbers listed in the Georgetown student phone book...
That is the best vanity I have ever read. It is more informative and well written than any article I have seen in the newspaper in 10 years.
Thanks gw!
Thank you so much for your wonderful essays, dear grey_whiskers!
That may be a typo, but how appropriate ... the mindset of O-baa-aa-aa-macare is that, like sheep and other livestock, humanity is but another species to be farmed for the gain of the collective, complete with culling undesirables by way of the "Jihad for Womyn's Health".
Cheers!
Cheers!
Nice, I can take it as a double entendre! It brings to mind the chant "0bama, 0baama, 0baa-aa-ma, 0-baa-aa-aa-ma". I can see the music video now, with the devotees transforming into sheep as the 0ne saunters through their meadow, holding his staff and clutching his holy 2000 page book of 0-baa-aa-aa-ma care (and fittingly, the meadow turns to trash as the herd disperses).
But...
You missed the heart of this brouhaha:
"DUMB SLUTS ARE THE HEARTBEAT OF AMERICAN MEDIA!"
They pay the bills, they are the demographic advertisers crave.
They're customers who are proven to be easily manipulable and willing to give value for dross.
The media is fighting for it's lifeblood when it defends dumb sluts.
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