On Chess and Choice

Each game of chess means there’s one less
Variation left to be played
Each day got through means one or two
Less mistakes remain to be made…

Chess (Anderson, Ulvaeus, Rice)

Today’s actions were just one early move in the bigger chess match that is abortion rights in America today. I’m not surprised at the latest burst of outrage around the blogs, but remember the big picture here, gang. South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds’ signing the bill was a forgone conclusion. It doesn’t start to get interesting until someone — presumably Planned Parenthood — files their challenge to the law and the courts get into gear.

This is chess — think a few moves ahead. Not only is this law on the fast track to SCOTUS, but in addition, it’s also nicely timed for the 2006 congressional election cycle. You can bet your bootie that congressional candidates all across the country are going to be asked to weigh in on their beliefs about women’s reproductive rights by way of their comments on this case.

So, vent your spleen all you like, but save some energy for the battles to come, becasue come they will. And if you can, consider tossing some $ to Planned Parenthood; they’re going to need it.

Time, by the way, has an interesting look at this issue. It’s worth a read, here’s a snippet:

In a country where two thirds of the public does not want to see Roe vs. Wade overturned, but nearly as many favor stricter limits on abortion, pragmatic abortion opponents have pushed for parental notification laws, waiting periods, restrictions on late-term abortions: The strategy was to chip away at Roe to try to shrink it, change its shape, and over time promote a

That’s The Way The Branding Bounces

Years ago when we got our first cellular phone, it was with AT&T. We later expanded to two AT&T cell phones. Fast forward a few years, AT&T has split into 4 different companies. I got a Treo and switched to Cingular service because AT&T didn’t support the Treo. Eventually, Cingular aquired AT&T Wireless and Scott’s AT&T account transitioned over to Cingular. Less than a year ago, we finally merged the two accountss into one “Family Plan’ on Cingular.

Now, it seems that we’re going to be AT&T customers again.

AT&T Inc. said Sunday it will acquire smaller rival BellSouth Corp. for $67 billion in stock, in an apparent bid for total control of their growing joint venture, Cingular Wireless LLC.

[snip]
Under the deal, the Cingular brand will be phased out in favor of the AT&T brand.

At this stage of the game, cell service is enough of a commodity that the only real differentiators between companies are the phones they support and their crazy billing plans, so I don’t expect much will change for us. I just hope the billing doesn’t get screwed up when they transition the account over.

It’s pretty funny to be going ‘back’ to AT&T after all this time, though.

Life’s Little Annoyances

As I puttered around the kitchen this morning, making coffee and putting dishes away, I was oblivious to the fact that I’d used up the last of the milk yesterday and not replaced it.

When the time came to put milk into my coffee, I was mightily annoyed with myself — both for not having gone out to get more milk and for having conveniently fogotten the whole issue until it was time to have my morning cup.

Grrrr. No coffee is not how I wanted to start my day.

UPDATE: Decided to try Americano-style and added some hot water to the cup, plus a little extra sugar. Not bad, although given a choice I’d prefer milk. Scott later wandered in and pointed out that I could have added a packet of hot chocolate; I’d forgotten all about that option as well.

How Real is Real?

Echinde (and Digby) are right on the spot with this. It all gets back to the idea that for so many of these “pro-life” agitators, abortion is not really about pregnancy, it’s about punishing women for having sex.

That’s made very clear by douchebags like Bill Napoli, a Republican State Senator in South Dakota, who thinks that issues like whether or not you were a virgin when you got raped should even remotely matter as to whether you should be allowed to have an abortion.

This is his idea of reality, by the way. How inconvenient that reality doesn’t match up with his foggy memories of past times:

When I was growing up here in the wild west, if a young man got a girl pregnant out of wedlock, they got married, and the whole darned neighborhood was involved in that wedding. I mean, you just didn’t allow that sort of thing to happen, you know? I mean, they wanted that child to be brought up in a home with two parents, you know, that whole story. And so I happen to believe that can happen again…..I don’t think we’re so far beyond that, that we can’t go back to that.

I’m Not Welcome In Missouri

As a Jew, this kind of thing starts to make me wonder if I’m really welcome in certain parts of America after all. I thought we’d resolved this issue in the US Constitution, but apparently not. Silly me:

Missouri legislators in Jefferson City considered a bill that would name Christianity the state’s official “majority” religion.

House Concurrent Resolution 13 is pending in the state legislature.

[snip]

The resolution would recognize “a Christian god,” and it would not protect minority religions, but “protect the majority’s right to express their religious beliefs.

The resolution also recognizes that, “a greater power exists,” and only Christianity receives what the resolution calls, “justified recognition.”

What’s next, legalized discrimination on the basis of what religion you are?