Notes from a women’s rights rally
Last Saturday, a rally was held at City Hall to protest the nationwide uptick in proposed and codified restrictions on access to abortion and contraception. The feeling shared by many women’s rights advocates is that the nationwide pro-life movement has become bolder, more extremist and, worst of all, more successful as of late. I attended the rally, one of many coordinated in cities throughout the country, and my reflections follow.
‘Patriot Probes’ at the airport
This past Thanksgiving I, like many of you, passed through Boston Logan Airport in order to get home. Prior to my trip, I had been looking forward with a mixture of giddiness and dread to the opportunity of being subjected to an “enhanced pat down,” an experience I hoped would be illuminating, if not mortifying.
Who is out of touch, you say? Republicans regularly and unashamedly disregard the wishes of the American people
Penn Jillette once observed that the Republican Party was essentially the “party of fear” and the Democratic Party the “party of hate.” During the Bush era (when he made the remarks) these designations hit the nail on the head. Republicans used the awful specters of Islamic terrorism, the Radical Gay Agenda, abortion and — gasp! — taxes to bully voters into thinking there was only one way they would make it through the next decade with their churches, families, money, or guns safe. Democrats, conversely, used George Bush as a symbol for everything that was wrong with Republicans. He, and by extension the Republican Party, wasn’t just incompetent, he was greedy and racist and ever eager to encroach on our rights — he took from the poor to give to the rich, he turned a cold shoulder to the victims of Katrina, and he routinely disregarded the constraints of the Constitution.
‘Patriot Probes’ at the airport
This past Thanksgiving I, like many of you, passed through Boston Logan Airport in order to get home. Prior to my trip, I had been looking forward with a mixture of giddiness and dread to the opportunity of being subjected to an “enhanced pat down,” an experience I hoped would be illuminating, if not mortifying.