Could they stand on their hind legs? Do you think?

performing pastel-colored poodle,
in a clown and poodle show
[OCRegister]

Ari Berman in The Nation takes a look at the Dems, embroiled in their running soap opera of duck and cover. Hide from it all but be The Alternative --also known as The Candidate:

Iraq returned as a central theme in George W. Bush's State of the Union address this year. With the war on the minds of many members of the public and with the 2006 midterm elections approaching, it seemed natural that the opposition party would forcefully challenge the President's policy.

Deanna Zandt at Alternet's Echo Chamber has an important post called Talking points on the federal abortion ban. She's emphasizing that we need to be careful not to use anti-choice "frames" when discussing reproductive rights. In particular, we need not to use their frame for emergency procedures performed in the second or third trimester.

As you know, these procedures are exceedingly rare - only about 2,000 a year in a country of 220+ Million people - and it only used to save the life of the mother. The opposition uses it to chip away at reproductive freedom. Our opponents are relentless and we need to use every opportunity to get the focus off the fetus and get it on the life of the mother where it belongs.

Power Moves

From the LAT:

High Court to Address 'Partial-Birth' Abortions

By David G. Savage, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court today set the stage for a major ruling on abortion by agreeing to decide whether Congress can outlaw so-called "partial birth" abortions during the mid-term of a pregnancy.

The case, to be heard in the fall, will test whether lawmakers can strictly regulate how abortions are performed.

In 2004, at the one million one hundred thousand strong march in DC for Reproductive Rights were three women with a common enough family story of abortion (two in fact), pre Roe. Where their story was uncommon is the police photo of their sister, mother and grandmother which had been publicised by Ms Magazine in 1973 as part of an article on abortion, rights and Roe.

Leona Gordon, 74, of Westmoreland, N.H., said she remembers when all abortions were illegal. She recalls what she went through in 1964, with five kids and a bad marriage, to get one. And she recalls what it was like, a few weeks later, to claim the body of her sister, Gerri Santoro, who died after one.

Last week was an exhausting week for most of us. With a one week delay to give the Democratic senators time to do what they didn't do during the hearings, namely prepare for the biggest fight yet for women's rights, it gives us a chance to evaluate where we are as Democrats and how commited we are or are not to the party that seemingly has left many of us behind. It says a lot that the spat between Specter and Kennedy, that the crying jag of Martha Alito, were what made the headlines, it speaks not just to our media but also to the job the Democratic senators did or rather did not do.

When we hear on the Sunday talk shows that half of the senators didn't know what `unitary executive power' was it's like a slap in the face. When executive powers became as hot a button issue as abortion has been since Alito was nominated, I felt a rush of hope. If the Democratic and Republican senators didn't have what it takes to protect a woman's right to choose surely they would care about the place Congress has in governing this great nation of ours. Or as we saw, would they?

Things don't look good for American women tonight. If anyone wants to sit in the courtroom and listen to the prosecution's case just head next door to mediagirl and read her words.

And Daou for something completely different: the anti-choice Democratic party

And after you do that, you can sit in the jury room for a bit, at Tennessee Guerilla Women, and listen to what the jury has to say.

Feminist Bloggers On ScAlito or Where Are the Fighting Dems?

This fighting Dems frame is a pig in a poke. I haven't really seen anyone fighting.