Comments

2
I just hope if we do get control, we won't waste it like last time.

Chopp and Gregoire conspiring to reinstate I-747, and otherwise pissing away the majority last time, completely turned me off from supporting dems in this state with money or time.

Until Chopp is gone, nothing good is coming out of Olympia.
3
I miss Judy Nicastro.
4
No mention of Irene Bowling running in the 35th district against Certified Horrible Person™ Tim Sheldon? Sheldon and Rodney Tom's "Majority Coalition Caucus" was the reason the RPA didn't pass the senate (again) this session, was it not? I'd say removing Sheldon should be priority #1 for NARAL.
5
@1 - Do you support a woman's right to determine her own health decisions? And while we're at it, did SCOTUS make the right call or blow it in the Hobby Lobby decision?
6
@2, you're a freaking idiot, and your attitude is precisely why Chopp has such difficulty making things happen. While you are sabotaging the mere hope of a progressive agenda with your fantasy team, the Republicans are wreaking havoc by electing genuine loons who are ruining this state.

@3, miss her how? In the state legislature? In your dreams. Nicastro would be a party of one in Olympia, if she could ever get elected there (which is doubtful), and parties of one have never accomplished anything in the history of democracy. Get real.
7
I just read there is a very successful preliminary test of a men's birth control. It would turn the religious crack pot's argument on its head.
8
Hobby Lobby is about to open a Seattle store at the former K Mart location at 130th & Aurora.
9
I think you people should focus on the cure not the symptom. We need to repeal RFRA and remove the Free Exercise Clause from the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment. Otherwise we will see much more of this injustice.

Here is an article which goes into detail about it:
http://www.alternet.org/scary-time-tea-p…
11
@10 I think we can agree that abortions is not a decision to be made flippantly. But "tragic" implies abortions are inherently negative, which I think people doesn't naturally conclude.
12
Edit -- well, not all people will naturally conclude.
13
@10,
The lack (or outright lies and denials by some) of sex & reproductive health education in this country is what's tragic.

Abortions are merely an outcome of that tragedy.

Abortions are the cart, not the horse.
14
@6: Judy Nicastro was a progressive member of the Seattle City Council from 1999 to 2003. She lost her seat to Jean Godden, who has done little of consequence in 11 years on the Council.

Nicastro was never in the Washington State Legislature.
15
@10: Tragic to you maybe, as you have no actual skin in the game.

Women whose lives were saved by abortion services may disagree with you describing the service as "tragic."

Tragedy is forcing women to bring unwanted children into the world, the suffering both individuals (and society as a whole), and the actual women who have died because of the forced birth movement.
17
@6 Most every problem we are currently having traces right back to that cowardly vote. From funding education and transit to keeping our parks maintained.

We're doing the Republican's job for them.

Fuck if I am going to waste my time and money helping them.
19
I'm donating to the campaign of every Democrat running against a republicant that I can afford. Stop the in-fighting here. Get the right people elected then work out the kinks.
20
Really surprised at the lack of mention of Tim Sheldon. I've been voting against him for the better part of a decade but like a cold sore he just won't go away. No one seems to want to take on his good ol' boy network up in Bremerton.
21
@18: If you do not carry the physical burden of pregnancy, if your life is not in danger because of pregnancy and childbirth, if you are not the one popping out an infant --then no, you really don't have the kind of skin in the game that allows you to dictate women's choices.
22
@6 Fantasy team? Pretty sure the last time a run against an entrenched incumbent by a socialist was ridiculed the socialist ending up winning, no? But yes, just fantasy, and everyone who disagrees is a "freaking idiot" that is preventing Chopp from being able to do his job. It's probably @2's fault that Chopp shepherded the largest corporate handout in US history by giving Boeing $8.7 billion, right? I think the real fantasy was to think that giving Boeing billions would mean they wouldn't cut jobs. A $1.5 billion profit margin just isn't big enough for them.
23
I wish people would stop parroting that "Abortions are tragic!" line. It's nothing but Catholic propaganda that simpletons fall for. I've known plenty of women who had an abortion. It may not have been a walk in the park, but it sure wasn't the worst thing to happen to them - and for a few of them it was literally a lifesaver. They don't shout all that from the rooftops, of course, because in this country we feel the need to worry about the feelings of pearl-clutching puritans, but it's still true.

Sometimes the circumstances surrounding an abortion are tragic (rape, for instance, or the sad discovery that a dearly-wanted pregnancy would result in a deformed or terminally ill child or mother) but the way we've camped up a simple surgical procedure is just ridiculous.

And no, Raindrip, the fathers don't have "skin in the game". They're not the ones who are pregnant. Until we can figure a way to transfer the clump of cells to dear old dad to carry to term, they need to hush.
24
When I chose to have an abortion it would have felt like a violation of my moral values not to. One of my top moral values is thoughtful, intentional childbearing--doing the best we can to help our kids flourish. To me, parenting begins before we even decide to get pregnant. I honored my moral values by waiting to have kids when I could support them. I honor it now by paying for their college. And I honored my moral values by terminating one pregnancy and starting over.

To me, many conservative "pro-lifers" make reproductive choices that are immoral. They treat children like chits --have as many as possible to produce more Christians-- or like punishments -- you had sex, you slut, and sex should have consequences. They engage in casual, go-with-the-flow childbearing--hey! I'm pregnant (because my pills ran out or my abstinence slipped) and even though I have no money or time and my marriage is on the rocks I'm going to call it a blessing. Some people think casual sex is a sin. I think casual childbearing is a sin.

What I am saying is that my moral values are in direct opposition to the moral framework of Hobby Lobby's Green family owners and people of similar persuasion. As a society we have not converged around a set of ethical principles about childbearing. That is why we should not be able to impose on each other our own framework.
25
Read the unregistered comment at #24. Very eloquent and on point.

26
It's none of my business what your moral and ethical choices may be. Conversely, it's none of your business what my moral and ethical choices may be.

Similarly, I may not determine what you choose to hold as a bedrock spiritual belief, nor may you impose your standards upon me.

You may determine who you hold dear as family, as may I.

The problem is when any government at any level imposes upon either of us an obligation to pay for the choices of others that violate our own convictions of conscience.

True acceptance of diversity means we must tolerate in one another convictions we find not merely repugnant but beyond horrific. That does not mean we ought to allow our government to compel either of us to subsidize practices by others that we regard as literally damnable.
27
I started a petition to demand the resignation of the justices who do have added discrimination into the constitution. Tell the government we won’t stand as a society to compromise one group of peoples rights for anthers. Religious freedom does not trump women’s rights.
Everyone please share with others, if we get 100,000 signatures the government has to acknowledge that the justices have gone down a bad path / by protecting one class of people they are hurting 51% of the populations freedoms. SIGN HERE TODAY! http://wh.gov/lLte8
28
The public policy issue isn't whether or not abortions are moral, in one case or another. The issue is who decides. In America matters of conscience are decided by the individual, not by churches, not by businesses and not by governments.
And certainly not by Bishops whose church has continually over the past 50 years in America abdicated, by its behavior, any moral authority it claims to have. By the way, the five Supreme Court justices who voted in favor of Hobby Lobby are all Catholics.

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