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 Obamas 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 Womyns HealthTM (1). In a liberals 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 womyns health care in this country.
Yeah, right. And Im 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) Im going to a $40,000/year Law School and Im too cheap to buy the pill.
3) My boyfriends wont even spring for condoms.
4) Im too proud to use the Lewinsky method.
5) Therefore I have a right to other peoples money to pay for it.
6) By the way, its $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 cant 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 womens 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 Limbaughs definition, shes a political whore, too.
But Sandra Flukes 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 dont let a trivial thing like a few decades stand in their way.
Lets 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, Obamas secretary of Health and Human Services, Darth Sibelius, going by the given name of Kathleen. Remember her? Shes 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 havent heard another thing about it since then.
So thats 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 youre saying by not having babies born, were 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 didnt 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 childs 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, its 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 dont like Godwins 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 its just fine for the government to compel you to buy things against your will, for the greater good. Its 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 dont 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!)
Theyre 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.
Must ping this tomorrow. Was gone/busy all day.
LOL! And the silly part is, she looks soooooo BUTCH!
Here's the beginning of Fluke's testimony:
Leader Pelosi, Members of Congress, good morning, and thank you for calling this hearing on womens health and allowing me to testify on behalf of the women who will benefit from the Affordable Care Act contraceptive coverage regulation. Myname is Sandra Fluke, and Im a third year student at Georgetown Law, a Jesuit school. Im also a past president of Georgetown Law Students for Reproductive Justice or LSRJ. Id like to acknowledge my fellow LSRJ members and allies and all of the student activists with us and thank them for being here today.
Who is the "Law Students for Reproductive Justice"?
WHO FUNDS THEM?
Georgetown LSRJ is here today because were so grateful that this regulation implements the nonpartisan, medical advice of the Institute of Medicine. I attend a Jesuit law school that does not provide contraception coverage in its student health plan. Just as we students have faced financial, emotional, and medical burdens as a result, employees at religiously affiliated hospitals and universities across the country have suffered similar burdens. We are all grateful for the new regulation that will meet the critical health care needs of so many women. Simultaneously, the recently announced adjustment addresses any potential conflict with the religious identity of Catholic and Jesuit institutions.
Bullshit. Georgetown already allows students to use OTHER insurance plans than Georgetown's own.
And contraception is NOT a critical health care need: either your boyfriend needs to stop being so cheap and buy his own damn condoms, or you need to learn to swallow.
When I look around my campus, I see the faces of the women affected, and I have heard more and more of their stories. . On a daily basis, I hear from yet another woman from Georgetown or other schools or who works for a religiously affiliated employer who has suffered financial, emotional, and medical burdens because of this lack of contraceptive coverage. And so, I am here to share their voices and I thank you for allowing them to be heard.
"Financial, emotional, and medical" -- classic propaganda technique of bundling similar things to inflate the numbers. Kind of like "those who walk or bike to work" to argue for bike paths.
Without insurance coverage, contraception can cost a woman over $3,000 during law school. For a lot of students who, like me, are on public interest scholarships, thats practically an entire summers salary. Forty percent of female students at Georgetown Law report struggling financially as a result of this policy. One told us of how embarrassed and powerless she felt when she was standing at the pharmacy counter, learning for the first time that contraception wasnt covered, and had to walk away because she couldnt afford it. Women like her have no choice but to go without contraception. Just last week, a married female student told me she had to stop using contraception because she couldnt afford it any longer. Women employed in low wage jobs without contraceptive coverage face the same choice.
FORTY percent because of THIS policy? Where's the survey; and if you're going to a $40k law school, condoms or the pill aren't breaking the budget.
The married student can go to a womyn's clinic and get free contraception: this is DC. And what's her husband do? If you can't even afford contraception, you won't be able to afford an abortion OR a child should it fail. It is not my responsibility to indemnify you against the consequences of YOUR poor life choices.
(And do we have to guarantee $75,000/year jobs for life for these womyn after they get out of Georgetown Law with a specialization in Butch Studies and can't get a REAL job?)
And a womyn in a low wage job "without contraception coverage" ? Refrain from sex: it's not MY job to pay for your boyfriend's thrills.
Cheers!
Both Pelosi and the onlooking man have body language that seems to say , “ Eeewwww! STDs!”
One article said there were all these accusations made and not one article of proof requested. No names etc. Pelosi sat there like the cat who ate the canary. Gleaming she had pulled one over republicans. I hope the church loves this evil woman.
This is not about contraception. It is about getting the heat off Obama in a week where Breitbart said he will release videos,Arpaio released BC investigation and now VOLT is having problems.
Law Students for Reproductive Justice is about abortion and anything else to stop the birth of babies.
GREAT post. BTTT.
Did I not say this will open up a can of worms? On Fox this morning.
Laura Ingraham said Sandra Flukes thesis was on employers paying for transgender surgery or that could be discrimination.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.