On a side note, I love how she mocks President Obama’s invoking of “scientific evidence” by saying, “Yeah! The same scientific evidence they point to on climate change! Yeah, that’s very reliable.”

Right Wing Watch brings us what has to be one of the creepiest, most astoundingly insane right wing statements about contraception you will ever hear, from evangelical caveman and talk radio host Kevin Swanson, who informs his audience that scientists researching the wombs of women who use birth control pills (wombologists?) have discovered that these women have dozens, maybe hundreds, who knows, possibly thousands of little dead babies embedded in their wombs.

Generations Radio host Kevin Swanson, who last week delved memorably into feminist theory, tells us this week that “certain doctors and certain scientists” have researched the wombs of women on the pill and found “there are these little tiny fetuses, these little babies, that are embedded into the womb…Those wombs of women who have been on the birth control pill effectively have become graveyards for lots and lots of little babies.”

Swanson: I’m beginning to get some evidence from certain doctors and certain scientists that have done research on women’s wombs after they’ve gone through the surgery, and they’ve compared the wombs of women who were on the birth control pill to those who were not on the birth control pill. And they have found that with women who are on the birth control pill, there are these little tiny fetuses, these little babies, that are embedded into the womb. They’re just like dead babies. They’re on the inside of the womb. And these wombs of women who have been on the birth control pill effectively have become graveyards for lots and lots of little babies.

Peeples: We’ve actually heard on both sides of that. We’re researching that and want to make sure we speak correctly to that in our second film. But we have medical advice on both sides of the table there, so we want to make sure that we communicate that properly.

Swanson: It would seem, and I realize that people are a little split on what are all the effects of the birth control pill, but it would seem that there’s a tremendous risk in the use of it for the life of children.

Roger Ebert:

A great many Americans no longer believe in the separation of Church and State, and indeed deny it is a principle found in the Constitution. Yet the wording of the First Amendment is quite clear, and its importance to the founders is underlined by its being first. Certainly it was clear to Thomas Jefferson, who wrote, “I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.”

That’s why it’s alarming to see so many politicians proposing to tear down that wall. It’s most evident in the eagerness of states to permit the teaching of Creationism (in the guise of Intelligent Design) in public schools, despite the ruling of a Pennsylvania U. S. District Court that “the overwhelming evidence at trial established that ID is a religious view, a mere re-labeling of creationism, and not a scientific theory.”

The other high-profile test of separation of Church and State comes in the attempt to legislate birth control, abortion and other matters pertaining to birth. We now have a likely Republican ticket which would ban all funds for Planned Parenthood, outlaw abortion even in cases of rape and incest, and allow employers to deny women access to cancer screenings and birth control. The likely vice presidential candidate, Paul Ryan, would go even farther. He is co-sponsor of a bill before the house that would criminalize in-vitro fertilization.

Read the rest: [Link: blogs.suntimes.com…]

John F. Kennedy:

I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute—where no Catholic prelate would tell the President (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote—where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference—and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the President who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.

I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish—where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source—where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials—and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.

….snip…

That is the kind of America in which I believe. And it represents the kind of Presidency in which I believe—a great office that must neither be humbled by making it the instrument of any one religious group nor tarnished by arbitrarily withholding its occupancy from the members of any one religious group. I believe in a President whose religious views are his own private affair, neither imposed by him upon the nation or imposed by the nation upon him as a condition to holding that office.
[Link: www.beliefnet.com…]

If the MP4 video above doesn’t work for you, here’s a Flash version:

Just when you think the right wing can’t possibly get any more reactionary and misogynistic, the Arizona Senate GOP pushes a bill allowing employers to demand that a woman prove she isn’t using contraception just because she wants to have the sex — and deny coverage if the employer judges her to be a round-heeled slattern.

And these Neanderthal throwbacks are whining about “federal interference” and calling this “religious freedom.” Freaking unbelievable.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 6-2 Monday to endorse a controversial bill that would allow Arizona employers the right to deny health insurance coverage for contraceptives based on religious objections.

Arizona House Bill 2625, authored by Majority Whip Debbie Lesko, R-Glendale, would permit employers to ask their employees for proof of medical prescription if they seek contraceptives for non-reproductive purposes, such as hormone control or acne treatment.

“I believe we live in America. We don’t live in the  Soviet Union,” Lesko said. “So, government should not be telling the organizations or mom and pop employers to do something against their moral beliefs.”

Lesko said this bill responds to a contraceptive mandate in the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law March 2010.

“My whole legislation is about our First Amendment rights and freedom of religion,” Lesko said. “All my bill does is that an employer can opt out of the mandate if they have any religious objections.”

Birth control via Shutterstock

The Republican Party has been trying like crazy to disguise their attacks on women’s contraception as an issue of “religious freedom,” but the newest Bloomberg national poll shows that Americans are not buying their snake oil: Republicans Losing on Birth Control as 77% in Poll Spurn Debate.

Americans overwhelmingly regard the debate over President Barack Obama’s policy on employer-provided contraceptive coverage as a matter of women’s health, not religious freedom, rejecting Republicans’ rationale for opposing the rule. More than three-quarters say the topic shouldn’t even be a part of the U.S. political debate.

More than six in 10 respondents to a Bloomberg National Poll — including almost 70 percent of women — say the issue involves health care and access to birth control, according to the survey taken March 8-11.

That conflicts with Republican presidential candidates Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney, who say Obama is violating religious freedom by requiring employers — including those with religious objections to birth control — to provide a way for women to obtain contraceptive coverage as part of their insurance plans.

The results suggest the Republican candidates’ focus on contraception is out of sync with the U.S. public. Seventy-seven percent of poll respondents say birth control shouldn’t be a topic of the political debate, while 20 percent say it should.

One factor in these results: the disgusting misogynistic attacks launched by Rush Limbaugh against Sandra Fluke. When Limbaugh started spewing hatred at this young woman, he effectively destroyed the Republican Party’s “religious freedom” disguise, and made it appallingly clear that this initiative is about something much more primal — the compulsive need for reactionary sexist right wing men to control women.

In New Hanover, North Carolina, the County Board of Commissioners unanimously voted yesterday to turn down a state grant that would have covered medical services related to family planning, because it also would have covered contraceptive supplies.

The all-male county board explains their reasoning:

“The answers that I got were that there were patients that were not being responsible with existing family planning that was being offered and that this would provide a more reliable solution for those people,” Catlin said at Monday afternoon’s commissioners meeting.

He added that he had an issue with “using taxpayer dollars to fund someone’s irresponsibility.”

Chairman Ted Davis said he thought it was a sad day when “taxpayers are asked to pay money to buy for contraceptives” for women having sex without planning responsibly.

“If these young women were responsible people and didn’t have the sex to begin with, we wouldn’t be in this situation,” Davis said.

Commissioner Jonathan Barfield said he was “one of those abstinence guys” and agreed with Davis’ comment.

I continue to be amazed and appalled at the right wing’s ongoing vicious attacks on law student Sandra Fluke, who had the audacity to testify before Congress while female.

For one example out of many, here’s Ryan Dobson, son of religious right bigwig James Dobson, with yet another disgusting sexist attack: Ryan Dobson on ‘Family Talk’ Assails Sandra Fluke for ‘Sleeping Around’.

Dobson: President Obama calls [Sandra Fluke] and says ‘I called you because of my own daughters, your parents must be proud.’ Really? Seriously? So Obama, when your daughter is a third year student at a college who sleeps around enough to where she’s struggling financially because she can’t afford contraception, that’s going to make you proud of your daughter? I cannot imagine a father in this country or anywhere that wakes up in the morning and is like, ‘I’m so glad my daughter sleeps around; it just makes me so proud that my daughter is sleeping around and spending money on contraception.’

At this point, none of these people can use the excuse of ignorance any more; they know that Ms Fluke did not say one word in her testimony about her sex life. They’re simply lying about this, and the lying is almost universal on the right — evidence of serious psychosexual problems, erupting out into the public seemingly beyond their control. I’ve never seen anything like it.

Meanwhile, Sandra Fluke has an opinion column today at CNN, showing the mental midgets of the right wing media how to behave with class even while they’re savagely attacking her in the most personal terms: Sandra Fluke: Slurs Won’t Silence Women.

By now, many have heard the stories I wanted to share thanks to the congressional leaders and members of the media who have supported me and millions of women in speaking out.

Because we spoke so loudly, opponents of reproductive health access demonized and smeared me and others on the public airwaves. These smears are obvious attempts to distract from meaningful policy discussions and to silence women’s voices regarding their own health care.

These attempts to silence women and the men who support them have clearly failed. I know this because I have received so many messages of support from across the country — women and men speaking out because they agree that contraception needs to be treated as a basic health care service.

Who are these supporters?

They are women with polycystic ovarian syndrome, who need contraception to prevent cysts from growing on their ovaries, which if unaddressed can lead to infertility and deadly ovarian cancer. They are sexual assault victims, who need contraception to prevent unwanted pregnancy.

They are Catholic women, who see no conflict between their social justice -based faith and family planning. They are new moms, whose doctors fear that another pregnancy too soon could jeopardize the mother’s health and the potential child’s health too. They are mothers and grandmothers who remember all too well what it was like to be called names decades ago, when they were fighting for a job, for health care benefits, for equality.

They are husbands, partners, boyfriends and male friends who know that without access to contraception, the women they care about can face unfair obstacles to participating in public life. And yes, they are young women of all income levels, races, classes and ethnicities who need access to contraception to control their reproduction, pursue their education and career goals and prevent unintended pregnancy. And they will not be silenced.

Sarah Palin came out yesterday and denounced Rush Limbaugh’s disgusting misogynistic attacks on law student Sandra Fluke…

OK, you already know I’m kidding so I’ll just knock it off.

In reality, of course, Palin apologized and made excuses for Limbaugh with one of those deliciously incoherent word salads so beloved of the right wing.

“I think the definition of hypocrisy is for Rush Limbaugh to have been called out, forced to apologize and retract what it is that he said in exercising his First Amendment rights and never is that the same applied to the leftist radicals who say such horrible things about the handicapped, about women, about the defenseless.

“So I think that’s the definition of hypocrisy, and that’s my two cents for you.”

Meanwhile, the entire right wing has gone into full-throated “they did it too” deflection mode for Rush Limbaugh today. Infantile schoolyard politics, to defend the indefensible.

One example out of many: wingnut ranter William Jacobson has grandly announced the Carbonite Accountability Project, intended to shame the online backup company into advertising with Limbaugh again. He called on his voluminous audience to chime in with any “hypocritical” advertising decisions from Carbonite; so far he’s gotten one comment:

Your link to Focus page leads back to your original post.

They’re just beyond parody — have been for years now.