For those who look for meaning, in form as they do fact

Some people thought Roberts', and then Alito's, confirmation to the Supreme Court wasn't really that big a deal. Or worth paying as much attention to as did some blogs (including this one).

Get that abortion now, folks:

The Supreme Court's new conservative majority gave anti-abortion forces a landmark victory Wednesday in a 5-4 decision that bans a controversial abortion procedure nationwide and sets the stage for further restrictions.

The 5-4 decision written by Justice Anthony Kennedy said the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act that Congress passed and Bush signed into law in 2003 does not violate a woman's constitutional right to an abortion.

The law is constitutional despite not containing an exception that would allow the procedure if needed to preserve a woman's health, Kennedy said. "The law need not give abortion doctors unfettered choice in the course of their medical practice," he wrote in the majority opinion.

Reacting to the ruling, Bush said that it affirms the progress his administration has made to defend the "sanctity of life."

This begs an obvious response, and rather than waste both our time being obvious I'm going to quote George Carlin recorded in 1988, at the end of the Reagan presidency. I'm just angry, he was angry and funny. I'm sure all of us could use a laugh right now, even if it's tinged with anger.

And because it's a reminder that four years later, a president was elected who was strongly opposed to pro-life legislation. Unfortunately, even if his wife is elected next year, the Supreme Court the Bush administration made will still be there.

Here's grand master Carlin:

They were going to get government off our backs. Yeah, but when it comes to abortion they don't mind government being in a woman's uterus, do they? Yeah, backs are no good, but uterus is ok by them. These people call themselves "Right to Lifers." Don't you love that phrase, and don't you love the way these people pervert the English language? "Right to Lifers?" Don't you realize that most of the Right to Lifers are in favor of the death penalty, and they support the South American death squads, and they're against gun control, and they're against nuclear weapons control. When they say "Right to Life" they're talking about their right to decide which people should live or die.

Now back to the amateur comedians.

Abortion rights groups as well as the leading association of obstetricians and gynecologists have said the procedure sometimes is the safest for a woman. They also said that such a ruling could threaten most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, although Kennedy said alternate, more widely used procedures remain legal.

Emphasis mine. It's not bad enough these people think they know more about a woman's health than the woman, they think they know more than doctors!


As a long-time lover of women who thinks most politicians who aren't written by Aaron Sorkin should be made to sit in a corner in dunce caps...

...this is one of those times I want to apologize for all those fetus-obsessed, homophobic, women-phobic twits.

Eve Gartner of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America deserves the last word:

"This ruling flies in the face of 30 years of Supreme Court precedent and the best interest of women's health and safety. ... This ruling tells women that politicians, not doctors, will make their health care decisions for them."