In theocrat run Kansas you can see the portents of what would transpire if religious zealots were given even a half a reign to run our country.

The Republican-controlled Kansas House of Representatives voted to advance legislation adding new restrictions to abortions in the state Tuesday.

The legislation would end the use of tax exemptions for payments for abortions, while at the same time requiring doctors to inform women that abortions may cause breast cancer, a claim that has been disputed by the medical community. The bill also defines life as beginning at fertilization and would prohibit all state employees from performing abortions during the work day. The bill now advances to the GOP-controlled state Senate, where it is expected to pass, then be signed by Gov. Sam Brownback (R), who has said he will sign any anti-abortion bill that reaches his desk.

“I am disappointed but not surprised by the House’s vote,” Kansas NOW lobbyist Elise Higgins told The Huffington Post. “I am extremely disappointed and saddened by their decision not to extend an exemption for rape and incest.”

More: Kansas Lawmakers Advance Abortion Resrictions

Judge Allows Texas to Ban State Funding to Planned Parenthood

Think about this for a minute, especially if you are a Texan. The taxpayers of Texas will now have to pick up approximately 31.5 million dollars in services, and the bulk of those dollars will go to anti-choice church backed clinics once Planned Parenthood is taken out of the picture. Are average Texans really so backward that they think it’s ok not to have family planning that includes abortion and contraception advice that’s not packaged with religion? Are Texans really so misogynistic that they are going to let loud mouthed religious zealots set health policy for most Women in Texas?

In the latest of a series of legal proceedings about the women’s health program, a judge ruled Monday that Texas could cut off state funding from Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas and client Marcela Balquinta filed for a temporary restraining order to keep the provider in the new state women’s health program that is scheduled to begin on Jan. 1.

The provider will get another chance at a temporary injunction at another hearing on Jan. 11, but in the meantime, the Planned Parenthood will not be a part of the state-run women’s health program when it launches tomorrow.

Visiting Judge Gary Harger ruled that Texas may exclude the otherwise qualified provider as part of the state’s ban on abortion affiliates from the program, the Associated Press reports.

“It is shocking that once again Texas officials are letting politics jeopardize health care access for women,” said Ken S. Lambrecht, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas. “Regardless of what happens in the courts, Planned Parenthood will be here for our patients. Our doors remain open today and always to Texas women in need. We only wish Texas politicians shared this commitment to Texas women, their health, and their well being.”

Until today, the federal government paid for 90 percent of the $35 million program, but that match expired because Texas chose to switch to a state-funded version of the Medicaid Women’s Health Program that purposefully excluded Planned Parenthood as an approved provider.

As readers of this blog know, for some time now I have rarely posited my own opinions here. My loyal readers are thoughtful and capable of digesting articles which I believe merit attention and consideration. Some of the articles reflect my own opinions, many do not. The point is and always will be to present ideas worth consideration.

However, this story is so egregious and disturbing I am compelled to voice my thoughts.

The persecution of anyone because of their race, religion or creed is abhorrent. We are right to be disgusted and disturbed by these things. We are right to marginalize bigots, racists and dysfunctional zealots of all kinds.

However, when an attempt is made to legitimize that bigotry by wrapping it in the mantle of religious or political convention, well, that is a bridge too far. Every single example of institutionalized deliberate persecution (as opposed to neglect 0f rights) predicated on the lines of racial, religious or sexual orientation has been perpetrated by oppressive or tyrannical regimes.

We have noted before that when nations that are that are led by or are under the influence of tyrants, dictators or religious zealots, any and all attempts to justify their actions, we can rightly assume that justification is false. Tyrants, dictators and religious zealots do not make moral choices, because moral choices can only lead to the demise of their tyranny.

The question no one is asking is why certain elements within the evangelical movement have made Uganda their front line. There are many other nations and cultures which share equally similar cultures and homophobic attitudes. Russia, Serbia, Muslim nations and others have demonstrated well documented anti gay agendas. Why haven’t the evangelicals made their presence- and big dollars- in those nations?

It is my belief the answer is simple and clear.

Racism.

Those on the fringes of the evangelical right know they can get away with their despicable behavior because a whole lot of people don’t give a damn about Africa. And this isn’t a conservative-liberal divide. Sudan has been decimated over the last 3 decades. Rape throughout the continent, from Congo, to Northern African nations, to Southern Africa has not been newsworthy for decades. In South Africa, 1 in 4 men have admitted to rape. What we in the developed world turn a blind eye to in Africa would be met by outrage if it were to occur elsewhere. Mostly, these atrocities are met with silence or ignored. For his worthy efforts George Clooney’s agenda has been largely forgotten.

Why is this germane to the persecution of gays? Because if a society doesn’t protect it’s own women or demonstrate and demand protection for women that society will no do so for gays.

Whether we call ourselves progressives, conservatives, anything in between or count ourselves among the faithful, this kind of zealotry, bigotry and racism must be confronted. The last century has shown us what happens when we do not.

SC&A will only publish this one post today in the hope readers will be inclined to read the linked to article more than once and be persuaded to take make this issue a priority. It is that important.

Uganda is at the fore of an anti gay movement that has reached huge proportions.

It isn’t simply religious or cultural backwardness which can be blamed for the cruelty, however. There is also concerted political momentum which enshrines the anti gay environment and legalizes not only discrimination but the most sever punishment of gays imaginable, from jail tine to the death penalty. As a result, anti gay vigilantism runs rampant and summary justice by these groups has become the rule rather than the exception.

Much of this perversion of justice has it’s roots in America. Some- too many- of the American evangelical movement have sponsored and supported much of the political and religious persecution of gays in Uganda. They have done so so unashamedly and have proud to take credit for their ‘influence’. They have even staked out the position that gay rights are not human rights because gay rights are not sanctioned by scripture.

This story is an example of what can when religion goes wrong.

And the story of how racism, no matter how well cloaked, will inevitably turn deadly.

Straight Man’s Burden: The American Roots of Uganda’s Anti-Gay Persecutions « Sigmund, Carl and Alfred

On October 14, 2009, a Ugandan member of parliament named David Bahati introduced legislation called the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Among its provisions: up to three years in prison for failure to report a homosexual; seven years for “promotion”; life imprisonment for a single homosexual act; and, for “aggravated homosexuality” (which includes gay sex while HIV-positive, gay sex with a disabled person, or, if you’re a recidivist, gay sex with anyone — marking the criminal as a “serial offender”), death. As of this writing, the bill has yet to pass, despite near-unanimous support in Parliament. But the violence has been building, a crackling fury not yet quite a fire: beatings, disappearances, “corrective” rapes of lesbians, blacklists in a national tabloid, vigilante squads and church crusades, preachers calling out “homos” in their own pews.

The Fellowship is the Ugandan Parliament’s branch of an American evangelical movement of the same name, also called the Family. The Family differs from most fundamentalist groups in its preference for those whom it calls “key men,” political and business elites, over the multitude. The bill’s author, MP Bahati, the de facto leader of the Ugandan branch, has become a national star for his crusade against gays. Winston Churchill called Uganda “the pearl of Africa”; the Family agrees. In the past ten years, it has poured millions into “leadership development” there, more than it has invested in any other foreign country, and billions in U.S. foreign aid have flowed into Ugandan coffers since a Family leader turned on the tap twenty-four years ago for President Yoweri Museveni, a dictator hailed by the West for his democratic rhetoric and by Christian conservatives for the evangelical zeal of his regime.

More

West Point Cadet Quits Over Religion

Read more at the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

Original article and resignation letter: Why I Don’t Want to Be a West Point Graduate

Excerpt:

I do not wish to be in any way associated with an institution which willfully disregards the Constitution of the United States of America by enforcing policies which run counter to the same. Examples of these policies include mandatory prayer, the maintenance of the 3^rd Regiment Shield, awarding extra passes to Plebes who take part in religious retreats and chapel choirs, as well as informal policies such as the open disrespect of non-religious new cadets and incentivizing participation in religious activities through the chain of command.

cbsnews.com

Mitt won’t bite the hand that feeds him.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Friday backed away from his support of adoptions by same-sex couples, saying that he simply “acknowledges” the legality of such adoptions in many states.

A day earlier, Romney, in an interview with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto, had indicated that while he does not support same-sex marriage, he considers the adoption of children by same-sex couples a “right.”

He said on Thursday: “And if two people of the same gender want to live together, want to have a loving relationship, or even to adopt a child — in my state individuals of the same sex were able to adopt children. In my view, that’s something that people have a right to do. But to call that marriage is something that in my view is a departure from the real meaning of that word.”

But then on Friday, he was asked, in an interview with CBS’ WBTV in Charlotte, N.C., how his opposition to same-sex marriage “squared” with his support for gay adoptions. Romney told anchor Paul Cameron, “Well actually I think all states but one allow gay adoption, so that’s a position which has been decided by most of the state legislators, including the one in my state some time ago. So I simply acknowledge the fact that gay adoption is legal in all states but one.”

The House Armed Services Committee voted Wednesday to protect service members, especially chaplains, from persecution for opposing the presence of gays in the military.

Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., said the amendment to the 2013 defense authorization bill protects religious freedom of military chaplains and the conscience and moral principals of service members who are opposed to homosexuality but feel pressured since the 2011 repeal of the military’s gay ban to hide their beliefs out of fear of recrimination.

It passed by a 36-25 vote.

‘This is trying to protect the ability of people to have their own opinion,’ Akin said. He said that he has heard from many chaplains who feel their expression of opposition to homosexuals has or could lead to recriminations or harm to their careers by denying assignments, promotions, training or education.

Huh? Servicemembers can now have an open and free opinion about military regulations and policy? Wow, this will work out well when the Armed Forces have enough discipline problems in the ranks as it is.

On a 37-24 vote, the committee also passed a second amendment prohibiting same-sex marriages or a ‘marriage-like ceremony’ that involves a same-sex couples from being held at any military installation or on any property owned, rented or under the control of the Defense Department.

Whether either provision becomes law is unclear. Akin was an opponent of lifting the gay ban. In 2010, just before the military’s policy changed, he convinced the House Armed Services Committee to pass an amendment prohibiting same-sex marriages from occurring on military bases only to have the provision stricken from the final bill during negotiations with the White House and Senate. This is the same prohibition that Palazzo is now sponsoring.

Opponents of the Akin legislation worry it ‘opens the door to allow harassment and discrimination without penalties,’ said a statement from the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. They claim the bill could be seen as a ‘license to bully’ gay men and lesbians.

I’d be afraid of bullying by chaplains more than any physical or verbal abuse. Hitchens was right, religion does posion everything.

Army Times

scsun-news.com

If Republican leaders do not practice what they preach should anyone believe a word they say? They profess first principles about personal freedom, individual responsibility, and small government, not least to prevent government intrusion into the lives and liberties of private citizens.

And yet .

Since their 2010 take-overs, Republican governors with Republican-controlled legislatures have pushed gender-related legislation on same-sex marriage, contraception, and abortion. No majorities elected Republicans to enact laws on these issues. Indeed, same-sex marriages are legal in a growing number of states, contraception is legal and practiced by virtually all sexually active women, and abortion, more reluctantly and less frequently used than in the past, is legal and practiced for the usual medical and social reasons: the woman’s life or health, serious fetal defects, and rape or incest. The trend for a half-century has been for government to limit its power and to enlarge personal freedom.

But when personal freedom runs counter to their moral and religious convictions, Republican leaders, mostly male and obedient to religious zealots, defy the consent of the governed and try to deny the majority’s will. Unable to prevail by honest means, they pursue dishonest ones: silence on social issues when they campaign, unpopular legislative efforts when they get elected. The result: Republican leaders using state power to intrude into citizens’ lives.

The most egregious example

is a law proposed by Virginia Republican leaders and protested by no Republican leaders anywhere for nearly two weeks, a law requiring a woman seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound probe inserted into and through her vagina and into her uterus against her will shortly before a scheduled abortion. The proposed law makes Virginia Republican legislators a gang perpetrating rape by device. Like similar laws in seven other states, this proposed law is a Republican effort at legislated terrorism. The purported reason for this politically motivated coercion is informed consent, with the state telling women what they must know to make a decision (and what doctors must do to them beforehand). The real reason is to deter abortion by the threat of abuse, humiliation, and cost. The state takes control of a woman’s body and subjects it to physical penetration. It requires her doctor to perform the procedure or incur a civil penalty of $2,500. It requires the father to support a child not aborted. Because insurance does not cover medically unwarranted procedures, it requires the woman to pay hundreds of dollars in costs and thus deters the poor more than the rich.

Protests are taking place throughout Israel in the wake of numerous incidents over the past few weeks, which have brought long standing, religious-based social conflicts to the top of the public discourse; Recent incidents include attempted segregation of women on buses, harassment of secular persons by religious extremists in their neighborhoods and the story of the ongoing harassment of a 7 year-old girl by extremists in Beit Shemesh.

ynetnews.com

Thousands gathered in Beit Shemesh Tuesday for a demonstration protesting the growing demand by radical religious elements to exclude women from public life in Israel.

The rally will feature several female speakers who were victims of haredi violence. Opposition Chairwoman Tzipi Livni, Labor Chairwoman Shelly Yacimovich, Culture and Sports Minister Limor Livnat and Rabbi Haim Amsalem also addressed the crowd.

Protesters were hoisting banners reading “Free Israel from religious coercion,” “Stop Israel from becoming Iran,” Segregation is a red line,” and “The majority is silent no more.”

Public outcry against the radical demand to shun women from public events and for segregation between the sexes on busses, sidewalks and even in lines in the supermarket, became especially strident over the weakened when seven-year-old Na’ama Margolis was spat on in a Beit Shemesh street by haredi man who claimed she was not dressed “modestly enough.”