Where have all the liberals gone? Long time passing...gone to flowers everyone...

So once again the Senate has bartered women, constitional protection of the citizen against abuses of state power and the delicately constructed 'balance of power' protections for what? Well you know what ... more power for themselves.

Like oligarchs on some far-off medieval mountaintop they barter and deal in the backrooms before coming onstage in front of CNN, CSPAN or the NYT's to give the peasants the show they live for.

Big salaries, cushy trips, the guarantee of being written in history books, everyone knowing your name, access, priviledges, power, power, power, power.

The press, a caged lion since Reagan guilted them out of existance, is fed a juicy morsel here and there, over which they fight and scramble till nothing is left but meaningless loose peices which serve to nourish no one. The press cowers lest they be banned to some desert forever, they cower and accept what is given, fearful that they too will lose their hard won priviledge to suck at the teats of power as well.

All the while the citizens, mute and deaf, live out their power fantasies with television, video games, sports and alcohol. All the while education is defunded, women are shoved into the alley and raped of their humanity and dignity as the culture is moved back to the cave.

Children are presented a world in which women are outnumbered by men at least 5 to 1 and are important only between the age of 12 and 25 and then only as a supplicant to a man's existance.

So it is any surprise that the Senate moves to bring Alito onto the court? Is it any surprise that George Bush's state of the union address mentions the rights and behaviors of women's sexual organs as if somehow we should all be concerned about what women are doing between their legs??

"...abortions are down, welfare rolls have gone down, teenage pregnancy has gone down"

And who cares why? And who is there to say, "Exactly why is it public policy to be concerned about what women and young women are doing with their sex organs?"

How about the other side of the coin: Access to abortions have gone down thanks to a proactive few and deactive majority, the ability of a woman to not be victims/or to escape economic abuse has been substantially reduced. As for teen pregnancy, we can all be glad that that is down. But still. Why not focus on "the number of young rapists has gone down/risen" "the number of entrants into the prison system has reduced" or how about, "Women now earn x.00 to every man's dollar" "Women are enrolling in colleges more and more, great!" Thunderous applause.

No, its all about who Mary is humping, why, when and who gets a piece of what happens or doesn't happen as a result and who should be able to decide (apparently Mary's mind isn't good enough).

Do we count how many men spawn children they do not support or even visit or acknowledge? Do we pass laws to mandate that these irresponsible men be thwarted in their obviously careless and costly ways through vascetomy?

Shouldn't men who think that women should be physically punished be forced to wear for a period of 18+ years a scar on their foreheads that reads "Abuser Do Not Date or Marry" Maybe men who abandon their families should be tried and jailed for a period equal to the time their child was a dependent and not receiving their care?

Sure, sure its hyperbole, but so what? Why do men get to gage their progress politically or socially based on their progress with harnessing women to their will?

To see them on CNN, clapping, standing, bloviating, cheering makes me want to send them a used tampon. You want to see what comes outta me? How about this? Take a hold of that you pompous assholes. There's your bargaining chip, my old dried up uteral lining. There's one potential fetus that never happened. Call the fucking police.
Call the fucking pope. Call Pat Robertson.

When I was a welfare activist in '94 another, older, more believing activist said to me once all in dismay about another very vocal group, "You know they are socialists and they believe that revolution is the only way to change things, they don't like what I do to work in the legislature and within the bureacracy to change and tweak existing laws. They say I'm compromising and preventing true justice."

I think they were right. For the dems who allowed this to go through, who compromised and accepted, who bargained and bartered, they have comprised not only themselves and the people of their constituency, but they have pushed a little closer to the proverbial cliff of dead history, the ideal of democracy as a working social principle.