Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Questions, Questions...



Question 1. When is terrorism not terrorism? The answer is here:


This past Sunday, the Eastside Women's Health Clinic in Washington State was set on fire. Among other health services, the clinic provides abortions and so been picketed for twenty years by those opposed to reproductive rights. The investigating agencies have all agreed it was arson, yet amazingly after only a few days and before any suspects are named, they are dismissing it as a "random act." The FBI has even withdrawn from the investigation.

Imagine if this was, for example, an office of Focus on the Family which had been firebombed. The right would be screaming, screaming, about domestic terrorism and the evil liberal agenda. It would be front page news all over the "liberal media." Yet when a healthcare clinic which was an advocate of reproductive rights and has been a target of the right for more than twenty years was firebombed, the FBI and other investigating agencies are quick to dismiss it as random and the media barely gives it a second look? Give me a break.


Question 2. Does W stand for women (in George W. Bush)? The answer, in Hilary Clinton's words:


President Bush administration is backing Uganda's policy on AIDS prevention, called ABC, which stands for abstinence, being faithful and condom use. But at international conferences the United States puts the emphasis on abstinence rather than contraceptives, especially among single people.

"ABC is a good strategy, but it has three parts to it and we need to remind the administration of that," Clinton told the International Women's Health Coalition, which funds and helps women's health projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

"There are so many strategies that we know work and we are not yet fully committed in our government to implementing those strategies," she added.

Clinton noted the administration had cut funds to any organization that provided abortions or advocated counseling or legalization of abortion.

But she said that some 20 million women worldwide risked unsafe abortions every year and about 68,000 in poor countries die from the consequences of such unsafe procedures.

"So I hope we will do more to try to protect against these ill-thought-out policies by this administration," Clinton said...


Question 3. (Stylistic necessity requires a third one, so you are saddled with this): What did we do to deserve Ann Coulter?

Not an answer but an elaboration:


"I think we ought to nuke North Korea right now just to give the rest of the world a warning ... despite that wonderful peace deal Madeline Albright negotiated with the North Koreans, six seconds before they feverishly began developing nuclear weapons. They're a major threat. I just think it would be fun to nuke them and have it be a warning to the rest of the world."


Why do I have a different definition of fun than Ann Coulter? Is that why she rakes in the money while I'm an unknown blogger? I could say really stupid things, too, in fact, I often do, but I'd never dream of letting anyone but the snakes hear them.