How did I miss this one?

The news these days is, of course, all about Virginia Tech. And rightfully so. I've got mixed feelings about the whole thing. I am horrified by all the carnage, but I also wish someone had tried harder to reach this kid. He should have been in a hospital being treated instead of at college gunning down his fellow students. And don't get me started about the fact that he LEGALLY purchased TWO handguns. Let us not forget, however, that guns don't kill people, people do; especially crazy people. But my guess is that the guns certainly help.

Anyway, I didn't start writing today to talk about Virginia Tech or guns or crazy people (well, maybe a little about the last one). It's just that the massacre story is eating up so much of the news cycle that I missed something that has much more sinister implications for this country's future than the admittedly horrible deaths of 33 people. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court upheld the ban on late-term abortions first passed into law back in 2003. It's no surprise that the two justices that GW has appointed in the intervening period were part of the majority: Roberts, Alito, Scalia, Thomas, and Kennedy.

Make no mistake. This is the beginning of a run at Roe vs. Wade.

As Justice Ginsberg states in her assenting opinion, this action "cannot be understood as anything other than an effort to chip away a right declared again and again by this court". The support of this bill lays the ground work for the argument that if some abortions are illegal, ipso facto, so are all abortions.

The most ominous thing about the situation is that the Court now teeters on the edge of being predominantly conservative. The only thing preventing the downfall of Roe vs. Wade is Justice Kennedy's swing vote. And that could be a crap shoot. His support of the late term ban is in keeping with his previous decisions (Stenberg vs. Carhart). However, he has also historically supported the pro-abortion interpretation of the Fourteenth amendment's Due Process clause (the essential basis of the Roe vs. Wade argument). So if Kennedy sticks to his guns and remains middle of the road, things might not change. However, if he succumbs to pressure from the conservatives...

Start buying stock in coat hanger companies.

Dumbya is, of course, pleased as punch. According to Fearless Leader, the decision "represents a commitment to building a Culture of Life in America. [It] affirms that the Constitution does not stand in the way of the People's representatives enacting laws reflecting the compassion and humanity of America."

I am a compassionate person, George, but I firmly believe in a woman's right to choose. The federal government has no business interfering in the most personal decision an individual can make. Thinking otherwise is a rather radical departure for a federalist like you, is it not? Then again, your religious ideology has always outweighed your politics, so this comes as no surprise. I cannot wait for the next 20 months to pass, after which you will be blessedly gone. But who knows how badly you will have fucked up this country and the rest of the world by then. I suspect that you will leave a pretty rancid legacy behind.

Pursuing life, liberty, and early deafness via:

Klangstabil - Straftat Gegen Das Leben
(Neubauten meets Kraftwerk)

4 Strings - Mainline
(primo vocal trance)

Killswitch Engage - The End Of Heartache
(and your eardrums)

Various - Headfloat Trax
(tasties from The Sales Department and Torsion)

Lena - Alchemy Of Fingers And Dark
(with remixes from Austere and The Mystifying Oracle)