Someone has put my email address on a conservative mailing list, either as a joke-or maliciously (the more likely option). I generally avoid reading or listening to wingnut garbage because I have high blood pressure problems. But this one is funny because it's so STUPID.
The money quote: "forcing abortion on demand, including partial birth abortion, without parental notification for adolescent girls"
Now, how one can force you to have an abortion you are demanding is beyond me, but these wingnuts seem to think you can.
Sigh.
The truth is that this is what is motivating people-a zillion wingnut emails that scare people to death about their children. When I was a young mom, I could get into an absolute panic over the idea that someone might molest my child. I was probably hypervigilant about it. This is a fear that grips a lot of people. I was terrified that someone would give my daughter crack cocaine. I lost sleep over these fears, probably because I worked for a HIV outreach project that targeted prostitutes.
It's important to understand that wingnuts motivate people through fear and through anger. It's important to understand that the people so influenced are sometimes helpless against the fear.
Sometimes in the face of this sort of fear and loathing, I have said "But you are so wrong. What I want is this: if something ever happens to you, God forbid, and your child grows up an orphan, I want him to have everything anyway. I want him to live in a society that will cradle him with a safety blanket in your absence. I want him to have good public schools to go to, access to medical care and good food so that he can grow big and strong, good mental health care should he ever have problems. This is how I want my taxes spent.
If your child happens to be black, or asian or mixed or whatever, I want to be sure that he has the same access to the things that will make him healthy and strong. I want his rights to access the safety blanket protected by law so that it will be secure. This is how I want my taxes spent.
If he grows up to be different or gifted in some way, or if his genes have predetermined that he is gay, I want his rights to all of the above protected and I want him to still have a legitimate place at the collective table. If he decides that Zen Buddhism is the grace that will save humanity and he becomes an adherent of this system, I want his right to practice his faith as he sees fit protected by federal law. This is how I want my taxes spent.
I do not want him to be made to feel awkward, or different or left out in his school classes because he is Catholic or Hindu and his faith system is not recognized or even understood in places like Lizard Lick, NC or Hot Coffee, MS. I want the law to protect him. This is how I want my tax money spent.
Whether you believe this or not, I have a right to have the representation in Washington, DC of people who automatically understand how I want my tax money spent because they are DEMOCRATS, and this is what we believe. Teddy Kennedy is one of those people. So is John Kerry. They understand how I want my tax money spent."
Sometimes I succeed with this and make people think. Most days I just don't have the energy. I just want you to remember that the people that the following communication was addressed to are not particularly bright. They are denizens of a world which is rapidly becoming too complex for them. They are the Fox News audience, which is the most uncritical, non-thinking audience in the world.
The most radical progressive among us needs to remember to slow down and take the time to explain things to these people so that they will understand.
When you read the following, take into account the obvious educational level of the intended audience:
Dear Friends of JCN:
As you know the Ted Kennedy / Chuck Schumer extremist liberal wing of the Democratic Party continues to oppose Judge Sam Alito's confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court. If there is one thing that the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings showed us last week, it is that these Senate bullies will stop at nothing to impugn the integrity and record of a good man and a great judge. Why?
Ted Kennedy and Chuck Schumer will oppose any judge President Bush nominates unless he or she will pledge in advance to be an automatic vote for their radical check list including:
taking the words "under God" out of the Pledge of Allegiance
trampling private property rights
forcing racial preferences and quotas
legalizing homosexual marriages
preventing student-led school prayer
using foreign and international law rather than the Constitution as precedent
protecting pornographers instead of children
protecting drug dealers instead of children
forcing abortion on demand, including partial birth abortion, without parental notification for adolescent girls
They want a judicial activist on the court who will impose their liberal agenda on the American people. Last week, we saw that Judge Alito will apply the law as written without partisan favor for any agenda. His fifteen years on the bench have proven he will not legislate from the bench or be a judicial activist in the mold that Kennedy and Schumer demand.
The time has come for one last push to victory. Will you join me and stand up to the left-wing assaults that are being waged against Judge Alito? Our Senators need their phones to begin ringing off the hook. They need to hear a strong clear voice speaking out for Judge Alito.
We are calling upon common-sense principled Americans like you who understand that a judge is to be a neutral umpire not the pawn of any political pressure group to pick up the phone and call today! It will take just a few moments to make a big difference in blunting the assault of the left-wing against Judge Alito.
Simply visit this page to go to a map of the United States and then click on your state to get the contact information for your senators.
Then call your senator with this simple message
"Hello, I'm a voter from (NAME OF YOUR STATE) and I support Judge Sam Alito. Please tell Senator (NAME OF YOUR SENATOR) that he should be confirmed without delay. Thank You."
Thank you again for your support of JCN and please call your Senators immediately and tell them that Judge Alito must be confirmed as our next Supreme Court Justice.
Sincerely,
Gary Marx
Executive Director
Judicial Confirmation Network
So to the person who put my email address on this wingnut listserv, I would just like to say this:
"I know you thought it was cute to do that, but once again you have been outgunned. I took the email they sent and posted on Kos. Now several million people will see it, so that will be that many MORE thousand liberals calling DC. Bet you wish you hadn't done that, eh?"
Sigh.
