Wednesday, July 23, 2014

GIBBERISH FOR JESUS.

The University of Chicago has an online guide to "Accessing Abortion in Illinois," and Ian Tuttle, one of National Review's cadre of Jesus freaks (K-Lo's Kids, we might call them), is enraged:
...the abguide is a narrowly tailored resource: Only those determined to counsel women not to seek an alternative to terminating their pregnancy need peruse.
I wonder if women who want an abortion for themselves can peruse it, too?  This convoluted sentence is an early tip-off that Tuttle is too angry to write clearly, at least without yelling "slut" and "whore" at frequent intervals, yet he persists, determined, it would seem, to find an intellectual angle on anti-abortion discourse so it doesn't look so much like "because Jesus said so, in code" (though it is).

Tuttle's willing to work, though; he finds a reference from the guide to a "foundational document," and tears at that a while:
[The ACRJ's] “A New Vision,” with its Port Huron–era complaints (“imperialism,” “cultural hegemony,” “White supremacy”), is a twelve-page repurposing of Marx — albeit less proletariat, more Pretty Woman — except that in lieu of “liberation” and a classless society comes “justice.”
Not only does Tuttle get to make fun of Marx and hippies, he also hits on that bugbear "justice" -- why, Dinesh D'Souza agrees with him that the Left is all about this so-called justice, while conservatives are all about freedom! (That reminds me -- isn't D'Souza due before the bar of so-called justice soon, whereby he may lose his freedom? Must create a Google alert.) So Tuttle digs in:
So successfully has the Left commandeered this ancient ideal that it has become a byword of political southpaws the way “freedom” is a byword of conservatives. That dichotomy is wrong, but it is pervasive, and “justice” is regularly spliced to a variety of niche progressive concerns to give them moral purchase: reproductive justice, environmental justice, social justice.
The problem with all of these, though, is that they are fundamentally contentless.
Foolish leftists! There is no justice without the Lord, as is proven by Tuttle's quotes from Moses and Russell Kirk. And conservatives still have freedom, neener neener.
But reproductive justice does not strive to accord with any order of things outside itself — not even, evidently, biological fact. Nowhere does the ACRJ envision concretely what reproductive justice would look like, any more than Marx dwelt on the specifics of a classless society. Reproductive justice thus means nothing more than reproductive freedom,
BIG GASP. Justice is nothing but freedom! But freedom in the non-D'Souzan sense, therefore bad.

By the way, that paragraph does indeed end with a comma in the original, because why not.

If you were wondering where the Jonah Goldbergs of tomorrow will come from, look to the Bible Camps.

139 comments:

  1. sharculese3:46 PM

    Fun fact: guess how many states print a directory of pregnancy resources that explicitly exclude anyone who offers abortion services or even referrals to abortion services- it's like literally every single state that has mandatory abortion counseling.

    List here: http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/spibs/spib_MWPA.pdf

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  2. Leonard Pierce3:50 PM

    I like that he's so angry that an abortion resource guide is "narrowly tailored" to women who are, you know, looking for resources about abortion. I wonder if Tuttle goes to restaurants and sputters that the menu contains only information useful to those who intend to purchase and consume food that is made there.


    Also, the marketing for "What If Not America!?!" or whatever that goddamn movie is called should contain language specifying that all proceeds go to the Dinesh D'Souza Prison Cigarette Fund.

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  3. Jay B.3:56 PM

    is a twelve-page repurposing of Marx — albeit less proletariat, more Pretty Woman


    ?


    So if you own a vagina, you should be able to control the means of reproduction? And get paid for it? That's like turning Marx on his head!

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  4. Hey, you can't make a freedom omelette without forcibly implanting a few eggs.

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  5. Love that scene in Pretty Woman where Kit and Viv discuss how owning the means of production gives them control over the surplus product.

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  6. A while back, I was in the mood for some pho and spring rolls, so I went to a well-reviewed place in town. Imagine my shock when I opened the menu and found gyros and calimari rather than the Vietnamese cuisine I was anticipating. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Why, that menu was such a narrowly tailored resource: Only those determined to counsel customers not to seek an alternative to consuming Greek food need peruse.

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  7. The problem with all of these, though, is that they are fundamentally contentless.


    Projection without end, amen.


    Nowhere does the ACRJ envision concretely what reproductive justice would look like

    I can help with this one!

    I can tell you it does not look like red-faced assholes screaming at a woman going to the doctor's office.

    Neither does it look like some lying sack of slime who promises a pregnant woman that there's a couple waiting to adopt her baby only to disappear like fairy gold when the baby is born.

    The number of similarities between pointy-headed gits whining that that birth control is murder and reproductive justice equals zero.

    And I promise it bears no absolutely resemblance to some knuckle-dragging penis shooting a doctor to protect microscopic blobs of cells.

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  8. I know. I actually got really confused reading that sentence. Like I'd been hit on the head and had a concussion, fell into a blender, and been shot out 30 years in the past.

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  9. It's almost as bad as the blather about hippies.

    It doesn't help that in my head Pretty Woman = Al Green, Roy Orbison & Van Halen (in that order).

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  10. Vivian: I say who, I say when, I say...

    [blubbering]

    Vivian: WHO.



    Sounds damned marxist to me.

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  11. Knuckle draging penis shooting a doctor? Wait, is this one of Jenn of Ark's science fiction stories?

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  12. This is the sort of person who goes to a restaurant, makes himself a nuisance to the waitresses and then leaves them a Chic Tract as a tip because they didn't cater to his every need. IYKWIM&ITYD.

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  13. sharculese4:24 PM

    The thing is, I'm sympathetic to the argument that 'reproductive justice' is becoming a synonym for 'reproductive freedom' to the point where it's possible to forget that it's supposed to have a component of social justice beyond just eliminating legal barriers to access, (although I also think that's far less true of the movement than it was even two years ago) but to make that argument, you have to first be capable of acknowledging that reproductive justice is a phrase that means something. Which, well...

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  14. Now you've done it. Excuse me, I have to go cover the internet with plastic.

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  15. sharculese4:31 PM

    Cutting up their biscetti into little pieces like mom does?

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  16. By the way, that paragraph does indeed end with a comma in the original, because why not.


    there is no punctuation justice without punctuation freedom. more of your strunk & white era complaints, roy, re-purposing marx - albeit less proletariat, more ap-style guide.

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  17. Apparently some people think it means women are punished for having sex by being forced to reproduce.

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  18. Shakes--can't you get through the Word Press and get back on LGM? I haven't seen you there since the great transition. You are missed. Or at least I'm missing seeing you post if you are posting.

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  19. PulletSurprise4:35 PM

    "The original Port Huron statement. Not the compromised second draft."

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  20. Jay B.4:41 PM

    I'm going to start making "Hooker Unions Have Em By the Balls" bumper stickers.

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  21. Derelict4:43 PM

    . . . reproductive justice, environmental justice, social justice.
    The problem with all of these, though, is that they are fundamentally contentless.


    Hmmmm.....I wonder how many dead women, beaten and abused children, and permanently impoverished lives make reproductive justice "contentless?"

    And I wonder how many people living in toxic Superfund sites and contracting cancer, or elderly folks living downwind from the chemical plant and asphyxiating from asthma, or fishermen along the Gulf Coast now stuck on welfare make environmental justice "contentless?"

    And I wonder how many minority children stuck in resource-deprived schools, or young Black men sentenced to decades behind bars for simple cocaine possession, or how many families bankrupted because of medical bills make social justice "contentless?"
    There are multitudes inside that "contentless."

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  22. tigrismus4:43 PM

    "Look for the Union label!"

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  23. BigHank534:44 PM

    For fuck's sake, DON'T LEAVE ANY AIR HOLES THIS TIME.

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  24. PulletSurprise4:44 PM

    According to NRO editorial "policy," Tuttle's submission reflects proper usage of The Goldberg Comma (colloquially known as the shart).

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  25. Giant Monster Gamera4:45 PM

    I thought it had something to do with the period giving him uncomfortable thoughts about lady-parts.

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  26. So successfully has the Left commandeered this ancient ideal

    In the alternate universe belonging to radio demagogues and rightwing bloggers, I suppose the Bible will crush the Little Red Book every time. But normal people don't necessarily see reproductive justice, environmental justice, social justice as political or religious issues, and thus aren't cowed by apoplectic rhetoric emanating from red-baiters and fundamentalists.

    The activist right is determined, well-funded and loud, but I'm hoping they lose numbers each time they define any desire for personal agency among women, or for protecting nature, or for seeking a decent living standard for everyone, as matters only their ideological foes care about.

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  27. dmsilev4:49 PM

    The last time the UofC trolled the wingnuts this good, they were tearing down one of Reagan's childhood homes in order to put up a parking garage on the site.


    Irony: The Reagan-worshippers tried to get an agency of the state (the local landmark commission) to prevent a private entity from doing what it chose with its possessions.

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  28. JennOfArk4:51 PM

    Who knows what the fuck he's trying to say. I think the only thing that we know for sure is that Lifetime Movie Network ran Pretty Woman for the kazillionth time last weekend, and Tuttle watched every showing.

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  29. PulletSurprise4:51 PM

    (Can't cite a better example of a worker-owned product...)

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  30. A more clever than usual way of shouting slut.

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  31. When K-LO brings the deadline hammer, it's brutal and swift.

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  32. I'm in mourning for JenKnob.

    Or, I've just been lazy.

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  33. FlipYrWhig5:02 PM

    the way “freedom” is a byword of
    conservatives.


    Uh, their shibboleths not mine, but isn't "liberty" much more their byword than "freedom"?

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  34. Gromet5:05 PM

    Yes. A freedom is a kind of fried potato, iirc. It belongs to us all.

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  35. BigHank535:06 PM

    I wonder if a tear rolled down his cheek as he watched Gere's Joh Galt toss aside his fortune in exchange for the fleeting temptations of the flesh. If we're all guilty of Original Sin, why do the jesus-squeezers always seem to insist that women have to take the beatings?

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  36. "Noooo! You cut the sandwich the wrong way!"

    A thing adults have actually shouted at me.

    I can't prove that people who throw a Force 8 tantrum over diagonal v. horizontal sandwich cuts are conservative fuckweeds, but it would be irresponsible not to speculate.

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  37. Derelict5:07 PM

    I think the acid test (asshole test?) is when they throw a fit not just because you cut it horizontal, but also because your crust-trim lines were not perfectly straight.

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  38. How about throwing a fit because the restaurant doesn't have Pepsi? I knew a waitress who saw a guy in his thirties do that, in front of his father no less. The guy's dad had to apologize for his adult son's behavior.

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  39. Derelict5:13 PM

    Right. Poor Tuttle was actually slagged into a coma by K-Lo, so the sentence ends with a coma.

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  40. JennOfArk5:15 PM

    I've never thrown a tantrum because they didn't have Coke, but I have been known to throw a sarcastic comment along the lines of "Pepsi? Really? Where do you think we are, Iowa?"

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  41. TGuerrant5:15 PM

    You're supposed to count only People Who Matter.

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  42. One--when they say content they mean biblical sexual morality. 2) they hate the word justice like a vampire hates garlic because it is a biblical imperative. Social justice is mandatory in both the OT and the new.

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  43. JennOfArk5:16 PM

    In fairness, you can understand why they might think that, given that they were surely a punishment for their parents.

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  44. Liberty Tea Party Patriots
    The Patriots of Liberty TEA Party
    Patriot for Liberty
    Tea Party Patriots Citizen Fund
    ----------

    Quick check of the Great Gazoogle results for "freedom liberty patriot tea".
    ~

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  45. Derelict5:40 PM

    Splitters!

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  46. sharculese5:59 PM

    I spent an hour trying to unfuck the fact that my wordpress account was tied to my law school email, which I have no idea how to access anymore, before giving up and just creating a new account.


    So take care of what you gotta and get back in the game.

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  47. Ellis_Weiner6:06 PM

    Or, you're supposed to follow Russel Kirk, and ground your justice "in the notion of 'a perfect Justice that abides in a realm beyond time and space...'” Moses, the Platonic realm, Catholicism--anything, just as long as it has nothing to do with real people and real life.

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  48. Ellis_Weiner6:08 PM

    TRADITION...TRADITION...Without our tradition, our life would be as shaky as....AS A BREITBART ON THE SIDEWALK!

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  49. KatWillow6:11 PM

    Well, control freaks, which often but not always, translates into "conservative authoritarian"

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  50. Derelict6:12 PM

    It was Eve who tempted Adam with the apple, after all.

    Nearly 6,000 years later and men still can't get over it!

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  51. Derelict6:12 PM

    I thought he was pretty solid and stationary once he actually hit the pavement.

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  52. philadelphialawyer6:15 PM

    "...the abguide is a narrowly tailored resource: Only those determined to counsel women not to seek an alternative to terminating their pregnancy need peruse..."

    ----That doesn't even make sense, because the guide is designed to be "perused" by folks at the U of C who are themselves pregnant, NOT by would be "counselors" on abortion, one way or the other.

    -------And, the guide actually does have a whole section entitled "Providing Options Counseling," which, while not providing links or other info about organizations determined to "counsel" against abortion, does include links and other info about counselors who advise on all options.

    ------And that page also says:

    -------"A pregnant person has several options: abortion, carrying the pregnancy to term and parenting, or choosing adoption. Because many individuals learn of their pregnancy through a home-pregnancy test, they may turn to trusted health and social service providers for additional information and resources. Such providers can offer comprehensive options counseling to assist a pregnant person in making her decision about which option is best for her.

    --------"High-quality options counseling offers non-judgmental and compassionate discussion of the choices a person has when she learns she is pregnant. Counseling should be unbiased and nondirective; healthcare providers should educate patients on all the legal and medical options available..."

    -----And even the very first, "welcome," page says:

    ------"This guide focuses on providing resources to improve access to abortion, but abortion is just one component of the sexual and reproductive life course. Equal access to all pregnancy options is critical for individuals and the measure of such access should be considered through a reproductive justice framework.

    ------"A reproductive justice framework views reproductive choice through both human rights and social justice lenses. The term 'reproductive justice' encompasses the full range of reproductive desires – including the right to be supported when choosing to have a child as well as when choosing not to have a child."
    ------So, it is hardly the case that the guide is some sort of "pro abortion" screed.
    -------And while it is true that the guide does not include references to counselors who will advise against abortion in all cases, one wonders why the University is obligated to include them. Leaving aside all the snide nonsense about Marx and Port Huron and so on, I thought conservatives were all about institutions and "communities" being free to do things their own way, without outside or centralized imposed uniformity. I'm pretty sure the various health care guides at, say Liberty Baptist College, and every damn Roman Catholic college or university in the country, do NOT include references to either abortion providers or any but categorical anti abortion "counselors," and yet that doesn't seem to be a problem.
    --------In other words, fine, we get it. Y'all don't like abortion. But, beyond that, do you actually have anything to say, of substance, against this guide? Whether you agree with the concept of reproductive justice or not, the fact is the guide does just what it says it will do, ie it will direct you to abortion providers and to a variety of pregnancy counselors. No, it won't direct you to the spirits of William F Buckley or Pope John Paul II, but why should it?

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  53. montag26:15 PM

    In Tuttle's case, I think he's screaming because the restaurant doesn't have the Happy Meal he was expecting.

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  54. KatWillow6:18 PM

    Eve ate from the Tree Of Knowledge, and then, and THEN... she shoved the apple down Adam's throat, where it got stuck, see. So Eve is EVil, where Adam only half-evil. And that's why pregnancy and childbirth are difficult and painful, often deadly. Also, menstrual fluid is disgusting (unclean).

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  55. montag26:20 PM

    After a fairly long life, food phobias are one of the things I understand least, but they do strike me as uniquely American. The one that always causes me confusion is encountering people who become rigid with paranoia if one food touches another on the plate. I sometimes wonder if they think they have four stomachs, like ruminants, and each bite goes to its proper compartment.

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  56. JennOfArk6:22 PM

    Hence, "Brentwood Speed Bump."

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  57. JennOfArk6:28 PM

    Reminiscent of the recent rightwinger outrage that Neil deGrasse Tyson didn't give equal time to religious mythology on his show about science.

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  58. montag26:43 PM

    This demarcation of right=freedom and left=contentless justice is a dominant theme which I would guess goes back, again, to the glory days of capitalism when freedom equaled freedom from responsibility, and for that reason, Tuttle is not so much leaning on Biblical imperative as he is on capitalist wish-fulfillment.

    The last thing he wants is a discussion of freedom and justice in the context of power relationships because his arguments sort of melt away into even more grandiose gibberish. He denies agency by declaring those campaigns for justice as "contentless." What he really means is that those calls for justice are without merit in the face of the, to his mind, superior freedom to ignore consequences.

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  59. montag26:50 PM

    Michael Pollen's take on this part of Genesis is illuminating. If you want to simultaneously destroy paganism rooted in nature and matriarchal power rooted in plant wisdom, what better way than to have Eve fuck everything up with an apple representing knowledge?

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  60. Smarter than Your Average Bear6:50 PM

    God's will DYK

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  61. montag26:58 PM

    No doubt there were more than a few that thought there should be no science but creationism on the program, because they really, really believe that creationism is science. Which, if anything, certainly is a strong indicator of just how fucked up public discourse is in this country. When the exposition of scientific method and the discoveries of science are treated as illegitimate, as propaganda, we really have gone head-first down the rabbit hole.

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  62. More than that they use biblical and morality as a synonym for sexual morality. There is literally nothing else going on--to them the bible is about sexual morality and nothing else. All that other stuff: jubilee, the poor, the widow and orphan--that stuff is all optional and kinda socialistic. But the sex stuff? that's the only real morality they recognize.

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  63. the Happy Meal he was expecting.


    IYKWIMAITYD.

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  64. "Pepsi? Really? Where do you think we are, Iowa?"

    Hey!

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  65. "Hooker Unions Have Em By the Balls"



    HUHEBB!

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  66. Matt Jones7:23 PM

    @Derelict Presumably, by "contentless", the author actually means "there's no wingnut welfare available to shill those things".

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  67. Pope Zebbidie XIII7:27 PM

    Something like two daughters getting their dad drunk so they can sleep with him?


    I believe that is the story Noah told to explain how his daughters got pregnant.

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  68. Pope Zebbidie XIII7:30 PM

    It's an egg whisk, not a trans-vaginal ultrasound wand! Relax.

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  69. JennOfArk7:31 PM

    No offense intended - just taking note of the fact that there is a Coke/Pepsi divide in this country which roughly follows the Mason-Dixon Line. Where I grew up, if you asked for a coke in a restaurant, the waitress would ask "what flavor?" while up in Iowa, my cousins referred to soft drinks as "pop," which is, let's face it, ridiculous.

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  70. Pope Zebbidie XIII7:32 PM

    I didn't even want no aqueduct!

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  71. Pope Zebbidie XIII7:34 PM

    So if a waitress in Massachusetts asks what flavour you want, is that a pop quiz?

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  72. Slocum7:44 PM

    They don't care about freedom as a principle for society; they believe in doing whatever they want to other people. There's a big difference.
    To wit:
    Nerd-on: (Also, they should look at the content of archliberal John Rawls' first principle of justice [which gets priority over the second, which has a redistributive component]: everyone is entitled to as much liberty as is compatible with everyone else having just as much liberty.) ... Nerd-off

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  73. [CLap clap clap clap!]

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  74. So Eve is EVil, where Adam aDAM) is only half-evil.


    Wait, wait. So ... God is GoOd, the Devil is the D-EVIL, and Eve is not merely evil, but EVE-il, while Adam is still a DAM. Which is why salmon swimming upstream have a harder time getting past men.

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  75. tigrismus8:01 PM

    Lot was the one who drunk-fucked his daughters; Noah's drunkenness was with his sons.

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  76. If memory serves, there was a dust up in the Evangelical aisle of Christians R Us over environmental issues. Some of the crazy young uns who hold the Bible as the literal truth decided that the whole Stewards of the Earth thing meant you know, stewardship until the owner came back and that meant, not trashing the place.

    But in general, I think it comes down to how far they're willing to push things. Because it is easy to say "No one should take birth control pills!" and keep taking them, if they're available. And "Get rid of the minimum wage!" if you're certain no one will actually do it. Now, people are starting to get what they've asked for, and you know how that works out.

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  77. (Thanks, forewarned is foreskinned. OR something.)

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  78. I wonder how many dead women, beaten and abused children, and
    permanently impoverished lives make reproductive justice "contentless?"


    All of them, Katie.

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  79. apocalipstick8:13 PM

    Unfortunately, if he's quoting the Bible, freedom is a pretty "contentless" concept there as well. Paul basically write in 1 Corinthians that he (and by extension, all Christians) are free to do anything/everything, but not anything/everything is beneficial. How then should we determine what is an acceptable course of action? Why, we should consider its effects on others. Socialism!

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  80. apocalipstick8:21 PM

    Exactly. The right wing concept of morality deals totally, completely, and utterly with sexual morality. It is the only type of morality that exists to them.

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  81. Leonard Pierce8:29 PM

    Yeah, it's pretty risky for someone on the right to dance around with the notion that left=undefined 'justice' while right=absolute 'freedom'. Anyone actually paying attention to that idea would quickly learn that the left is plenty interested in freedom; they just don't define it as strictly an economic issue, and believe that 'freedom' should include stuff like marrying whoever you like, controlling your own body, and organizing a union instead of just not refusing to pay taxes, avoiding safety regulations, and firing your employees because they asked for an hour lunch on Christmas. Likewise, the right has always believed in justice; it's just we define it in terms of equality and opportunity, and they define it in terms of revenge and punishment.

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  82. RogerAiles8:41 PM

    If I remember correctly, the working title of the film Pretty Woman was Dow 36,000. Something like that.


    How does one cross Marx with the ultimate paean to capitalism? If not for the miscasting of the MRA character, that flick would be in J.J. Miller's Top 1 Conservative Films.

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  83. AlanInSF8:41 PM

    I always thought "reproductive justice" meant if two ignorant superstitious bigots mated, their children would be ignorant superstitious bigots. In fact, I'm almost certain that what our femiNazi co-conspirators actually call for is "reproductive freedom," but then the guy's whole argument would be stupid.

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  84. AlanInSF8:43 PM

    Sorry, your facts don't trump his uninformed assumptions.

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  85. I grew up asking for "tonic" all soft drinks were tonics. We also bought them at the "Spa."

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  86. RogerAiles8:46 PM

    I'm going to have to get a new WordPress account, for reasons unknown to me.


    I'm leaning toward "Roger Say F*ck WordPress."

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  87. That was recondite.

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  88. In Arkham, Massachusetts they mix a tonic. [Whoop whoop whoop!]

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  89. Spaghetti Lee9:11 PM

    Patriot for Liberty

    Poor guy. The other groups wouldn't even let him in so he had to make his own.

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  90. So successfully has the Left commandeered this ancient ideal that it has become a byword of political southpaws the way “freedom” is a byword of conservatives. That dichotomy is wrong, but it is pervasive


    He's right, but in a wrong way- the dichotomy is wrong because conservatives don't believe in freedom for individuals not of the "ownership class". Sorry, sluts, you need to be constrained so that the Captains of Industry can remain free to vacuum up all of the planet's remaining resources... for freedom!

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  91. AGoodQuestion10:12 PM

    This convoluted sentence is an early tip-off that Tuttle is too angry to write clearly,
    He may be juuuuust savvy enough to know that writing clearly won't help his case.

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  92. AGoodQuestion10:15 PM

    Oh, if only people like Tuttle went around handing out Chic Tracts. I'd love to have a brisk comic book read about how only Nile Rodgers saves.

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  93. AGoodQuestion10:18 PM

    Cutting the crust off sandwiches mystifies me. The crust is the most flavorful part of the bread, so why wouldn't you keep it? Maybe I just don't get it because I didn't grow up coddled in that particular way.

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  94. AGoodQuestion10:28 PM

    Like all red-blooded males he tunes out when a broad is talking.

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  95. AGoodQuestion10:42 PM

    Everyone!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB_deAcoC2I

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  96. in the reproduction oriented "gibberish for jesus:" category , ppl here have already seen the john c wright YEAH HUH MY KINK IS YR KINK TOO ! ! ! screed that pharyngula & lgm linked to yest , right ? its a DOOZY alright

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  97. Derelict11:09 PM

    I'm with you on this. But I've known more than a few white-shoe Republicans who felt it the height of taste and hospitality to only serve crustless finger sandwiches. I guess upper-crust equals no crust.

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  98. Derelict11:18 PM

    it's just we define it in terms of equality and opportunity, and they define it in terms of revenge and punishment.

    THIS.
    I want this on t-shirts and bumperstickers, billboards and skywriting. Yesterday.

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  99. my cousins referred to soft drinks as "pop," which is, let's face it, ridiculous.Hey!

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  100. badJim11:43 PM

    I regret having upvoted. This comment does not have my "Cl" of approval.

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  101. Thanks, forewarned is foreskinned.

    For fuck's sake, DON'T LEAVE ANY AIR HOLES THIS TIME.


    Holy mohely!

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  102. "Surrender to the Sex" is totally gonna be my band's name.

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  103. How does one cross Marx with the ultimate paean to capitalism?Richard Gere's character starts out as a perfectly respectable, prosperous corporate raider who dismantles companies, yet ends as someone who wants to invest his capital in actual productive enterprises for the long term. And this is supposedly admirable. That's Das Kapital's prescription in a nutshell, straight from the original Russian.

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  104. BigHank5312:43 AM

    But he meant it ionically!

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  105. BigHank5312:54 AM

    That doesn't even make sense, because the guide is designed to be
    "perused" by folks at the U of C who are themselves pregnant, NOT by
    would be "counselors" on abortion, one way or the other.


    No, this is actually a substantial tell on Tuttle's part: He really doesn't think women are capable of independent adult decisions. Some man must be telling her what to do, and if he isn't dispensing the Jesus-approved line on fetal inviolability, he's talking Satan.

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  106. montag26:05 AM

    I think it would have met with Miller's approval if it had been Kelsey Grammer opposite Julia Roberts.

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  107. montag26:14 AM

    Krugman has tracked GDP growth with population size and, overall, the two are pretty closely linked. So, it could be argued that the "you vill have all babies" crowd are actually rooting not for Biblical principles, but, rather, for capitalism. But, that won't stop them from ranting, "it's Gawd's will," when unrestrained growth causes the planetary carrying capacity to collapse....

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  108. And that was nothing to what they'd have been if he'd given equal time to a variety of creation myths.

    I wish someone would do that show.

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  109. Pseudonym6:27 AM

    True conservatives will have a hissy fit if you cut their sammiches vertically instead of horizontally.

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  110. Derelict7:14 AM

    She was, after all, a pillar of the community.

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  111. "Soda," fercrissakes, "soda"!

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  112. "Omit needless words!" The jokes write themselves.

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  113. Upvote because the pun is the pillar of all humor. Except for the sight-gag, of course.

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  114. The only thing I remember about that movie is "hooker meets millionaire, makes good and doesn't get beaten up." Sounds like trickle-down economics in a nutshell, except maybe for the "doesn't get beaten up" part.

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  115. FlipYrWhig8:27 AM

    I heard that in an apocryphal book Lot was seeing this other woman who ended up being turned into charcoal. It was the world's first instance of carbon dating.

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  116. FlipYrWhig8:30 AM

    "By choice, man. It's a conscious choice." #gasNsip

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  117. redoubtagain8:57 AM

    He wants a triple cheeseburger from Chik-Fil-A. On Sunday.

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  118. redoubtagain9:19 AM

    Sorry, but this is the funniest part of the essay to me:
    Ian Tuttle is a William F. Buckley Jr. fellow at National Review

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  119. I like to think the entire crustless finger sandwich thing started when a poor British noble had to provide tea for unexpected guests and the only food in the house was a loaf that cook had gotten cheap because the crust was overdone, a couple of dodgy cucumbers and a handful of dill.

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  120. You people are just dreadful.

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  121. glennisw10:02 AM

    Well, it's pretty audacious to pull off a screed against women having agency over their own reproductive rights with a celebration of the word "freedom."

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  122. That is a not uncommon attitude amongst the fetus fetishists, which makes you wonder why they'd leave a helpless infants in the care of something as stupid as a woman. I guess animal instinct is supposed to kick in.

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  123. mgmonklewis10:16 AM

    I'd wager Nile Rodgers has saved more (however you want to define that, and I don't think it matters) than all the constipated fundamentalists like Tuttle put together. The bassline from "Good Times" alone has done more good than Tuttle and all his comrades will do in their entire lives.

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  124. Are we certain this Tuttle actually exists? I mean, maybe Jonah invented him (along with Hawkeye and Trapper, no, wait, Frank Burns and Colonel Flagg), to crank out articles occasionally (that are really rehashes of old Buckley editorials from 1980). We'll know for sure when General Clayton arrives to give him a medal.

    But at least all of his back pay will go to the Sister Theresa Pregnancy Crisis Center.

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  125. I've got a thing about bugs. Not a phobia, per se, but there are some things I will not eat.http://importfood.com/thai_insects.html

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  126. mgmonklewis10:22 AM

    Salt of the earth, if you will.

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  127. philadelphialawyer10:27 AM

    Right. And now that I've "perused" the guide a little more, I also found this:
    "Navigating Crises Pregnancy Centers

    "'Crisis pregnancy centers' (CPCs) can impact the experience of seeking abortion care. CPCs offer free pregnancy tests, pregnancy and health care information, and sometimes ultrasound imaging; however, they generally do not provide licensed medical care, abortion services, referrals to abortion services, or a full range of contraceptive options.They sometimes look like medical clinics or have similar names, but are often established by individuals who oppose abortion. A number of CPCs exist in Illinois and the confusion they can cause by their presence and practice can lead to delays in care for an individual who wants to consider abortion. A 2006 study commissioned by Representative Henry Waxman on federally-funded CPCs found that 87% provided false or misleading information about the health effects of abortion and grossly misrepresented the medical risks of abortion, 'telling the callers that having an abortion could increase the risk of breast cancer, result in sterility, and lead to suicide and "post-abortion stress disorder"’."
    Which, while not exactly a ringing endorsement of the kind of "counseling center" that the NR favors, is, at least an acknowledgement of their existence, and a straight forward, fact-based summary of what they are all about. The description actually lists the services such places do provide, as well as those they don't, and correctly, and rather mildly and cautiously, in my view, states that such places are "often established" by abortion opponents. The paragraph goes on to describe, once again, accurately and without hyperbole, and rather clinically, what the possible effects on a person seeking an abortion are if she engages this kind of "counseling."
    All in all, a lot better than an abortion provider or all options counselor would get from a "pro life" college, I'l betcha! I'm pretty sure the "tailoring" is a lot "narrower" in those cases.

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  128. mgmonklewis10:38 AM

    Grámmar, høw does It wörk?¿!

    Cäst off ðe shakkles of spèlling & gràmmer. ¡Frêedumb!

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  129. RogerAiles11:04 AM

    It's been 80 years since I saw it at the drive-in. I just remember a rich dude buying a woman, the woman buying shit on Rodeo Drive and the rich man and woman partying richly at the end. Also George Costanza getting his ass kicked when tries to sample the rich man's merchandise, and Laura San Giancoma dying (or something bad) because she was a less attractive pro.

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  130. Okay, when you put it like that, it does read like a leftist critique that went over too many people's heads. But Ian Tuttle is on to us.

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  131. J Neo Marvin11:31 AM

    Chic tracts sound like fun. Awwwwwwwwwww freak out!!!

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  132. JennOfArk1:24 PM

    I prefer RC to Pepsi, actually.

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  133. Tony Prost3:11 PM

    Justice is a two hour execution.

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  134. Tony Prost3:13 PM

    Justice is a two hour execution. Bring your own popcorn.

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  135. J Neo Marvin4:46 PM

    I want to take this comment out for clams on the half shell and roller skates, roller skates.

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  136. TomParmenter5:09 PM

    RC is not widely distributed, but it is generally agreed to be the better of the three colas. OTOH, what does Double Cola taste like?

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