Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Legislature / Politics / Woods Sky's the Limit for GOP's Righteous Agenda: Yes We Can!
Posted by Jeff Woods on Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 5:06 AM
Let's review. There are bills galore to restrict the rights of women, gays and brown-skinned people, just to name three demographics. Banning gay adoptions is already getting attention. Outlawing abortions, of course, is at the top of the to-do list. Likely to pass early in the session is a resolution asking voters to amend the Tennessee constitution to strip away abortion rights. This almost passed last session when the evangelical Family Action Council generated an astounding 100,000 emails to lawmakers in 10 days.
Amending the constitution would let the legislature ban abortions in the state should Roe v. Wade ever be overturned. Until then, Republicans will content themselves with pushing an array of measures to try to intimidate pregnant women who are thinking about having an abortion.
One idea--a golden oldie from past sessions--would require doctors to read a scary script on the evils of abortion to patients. That's what passes for "informed consent" among evangelicals. Women who are undaunted then might be forced under another proposed law to look at an ultrasound of their fetus before an abortion and obtain a death certificate afterward.
As it turns out, just because you're against abortion doesn't mean you're for family planning. So the pro-life crowd will almost certainly try again to restrict federal money that now goes to Planned Parenthood for free contraceptives to the poor. Upward of 10,000 women across the state use these services.
What else is on the GOP agenda? Let's allow gun freaks to carry their pistols onto college campuses and into saloons. Yes we can! They're still filing bills but based on past sessions, the sky's the limit! Censoring television "indecency," teaching creationism in science classes, prohibiting any mention of homosexuality in public schools--and the list goes on.
Our personal favorite is last year's proposal to bar anyone from forcibly implanting a microchip under anyone else's skin. That law is needed, proponents say, because implanted microchips could become Satan's Mark of the Beast, which we all know is one way the devil will gain dominance over the Earth during the time of Tribulation. This is not a joke.
Update: Stacey Campfield discusses his ambitious package of bills.
Update II: Another fabulous bill from the National Rifle Association.
Comments (4)
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I'd love to hear about the state house Republicans plan to address the collapsing unemployment system in the state at a time when joblessness is rising fast.
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Holy cow! Who knew SNL writers had mics hidden in the TN GOP state house offices?
