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To the ladies who follow my muse
I know you’re all up on the news
So I’m sure you’re all wise
That the GOP guys
Are coming for your right to choose
Each Right-Wing Republican boy
Thinks they can win with this ploy
That each “values” vote
Will jump on the float
It’s the issue of their hoi polloi
Whichever side of this you take
The issue is your right to make
This personal choice
Have the right to your voice
Instead of some law you might break
Incest or rape? – doesn’t matter
Or family torn to a tatter
You must bring to term
Your own father’s sperm
(These loons put the “mad” in Mad Hatter)
These people espouse this profanity
And call it the true Christianity
The only thing true
Is they’re coming for you
With this stubborn perversion of sanity
If any of you with a brain
Votes for an R you’re insane
One word you all should
Know is “personhood”
Their amendment sends your rights down the drain
And these zealots hate Planned Parenthood
They’d destroy it today if they could
You vote in these bums
Planned Parenthood’s done
‘N more abandoned kids the likelihood
Though some of you may be conflicted
‘Cause you like Mitt or Ron but you’re ticked it
Means you have to go
Against what you know
That their party wants your rights restricted
So sisters, moms, daughters beware
Your rights and their cant do not square
And your deep need to be
Equal and free
Hangs by a whim and a prayer
© tony powers and Barking in the Dark, 2012.]. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to tony powers and Barking in the Dark with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Barking In The Dark 
Am running behind on my reading -not to mention writing- but this just hit the inbox. As always there’s my favorite stanza to your ballads:
These people espouse this profanity
And call it the true Christianity
The only thing true
Is they’re coming for you
With this stubborn perversion of sanity
Oh this has a bit/lot to do with the ex-husbands, being single and learning to not give a damn about what other righteous people aka acquaintances think or believe. Oh, and keeping my mouth shut about my own beliefs. Whether it is politics, religion or a woman’s RIGHT to govern her own body nothing can change a closed mind.
Killer tome Tony.
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Posted by Rachael Black | January 29, 2012, 5:29 amThanks Rachael, i too am waaaay behind. and ur so right…nothing can change a closed mind…but i get off letting them know i know. continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | January 29, 2012, 6:06 amand that’s why so many people dig you
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Posted by Rachael Black | January 29, 2012, 6:30 amExcellent, insightful, and clever. Just found your blog today and I’m sure I’ll be back. Keep up the good work, it’s something I’ll aspire to.
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Posted by fakelikeme | January 29, 2012, 5:05 amthanks FLM, i appreciate it. i’ll check on you asap. continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | January 29, 2012, 6:07 amThe post is excellent, clever as always. The comments cover all my objections to this craven attempt to appease the religious right. What I don’t understand is why they are so obsessed with sex instead of focusing on kindness, charity…….. I thought those were the big lessons of Christ.
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Posted by lisahgolden | January 27, 2012, 1:32 amtry telling that to them. thanks Lisa h, as always an insightful comment. continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | January 27, 2012, 8:44 pmReading through the comments here is as interesting as the post, Tony.
Your ballad actually pissed me off no end, as this topic always does.
Run the govt. Deal with an unfair tax structure and corporate corruption. Deal with your own foul relationships with special interest groups. Deal with our damaged worldwide image and the fact that there are people here in pain whose issues can be fixed relatively simply.
What I do with my dick or uterus or who I do it with (as long as it is consensual) is so far beyond the realm of things that they should be interested in that I wonder how their brains manage not to jump down their throats and throttle them.
Well, probably because their brains obviously don’t work in the first place.
Keep poking it with a stick, Tony. Great stuff, as always.
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Posted by El Guapo | January 26, 2012, 8:45 pmthanks EG, as usual a thoughtful comment. continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | January 27, 2012, 1:13 amyeah, conception is as far as their thinking goes on the matter… the quality of the baby’s life doesn’t really concern them because, with any luck, he or she might grow up to be one more confuse, bruised, broken life form that might then become completely dependent, or a criminal, an addict, mentally ill, anything that will further contribute to the smokescreen that obfuscates the real issues and lets the oligarchs rob us while we argue about this kind of obvious issue. should a child of rape come to term? answer: no. simple question- simple answer. thanks EG. i’m with you. continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | January 27, 2012, 8:57 pmThe religious right, among others, has hijacked the GOP and that is disappointing. If you are going to be the party about individuals and their liberties and freedoms over centralized gov’t, you need to be consistent. The GOP would be much more effective if they stuck to the visions of Thomas Jefferson and Abe Lincoln instead of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. Having said that the pro life debate is way more complicated than the debate on issues like pot or gay marriage. Where do we draw the line? When does life begin? When that life begins, when does that life have its own rights? Who’s call is it? Should a willing father have any say? Is there a difference between rape and consentual pregnancy? What has been the experience, later in life, for girls that made decisions in their youth? I struggle with the answers to all of those questions. Ron Paul, for example, is pro life but he was an OBGYN before he was a representative and this is not his primary agenda. What is right and what is wrong is a tough, tough call. It is easy to see how it divides us and easier to see why politicians like to use it as red meat to fire up their base.
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Posted by Tom | January 26, 2012, 4:05 pmthanks for the comment Tom, what about in cases of rape? or incest? continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | January 27, 2012, 1:12 amExactly. There are lots of questions with answers that are far from black and white. But, why focus on the margins? I don’t know the stats but I’d guess that pregnancies that occur from rape and/or incest are not common relative to pregnancies that are the result of consentual sex. The biggest issue is a simple question. When does life begin? I am undecided regarding the gov’ts role in abortion because I am not sure when life begins or when a life has its own rights. When do you think life begins?
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Posted by Tom | January 27, 2012, 8:24 pmFrom the viewpoint of a woman, if I conceived after being raped, I would not want to carry the child to term, but rather have the OPTION to abort as soon as finding out I was pregnant – which I would do so after being raped at the earliest possible moment.
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Posted by She speaks.... | January 27, 2012, 8:57 pmTom, i don’t think it matters. to me, what matters most is who’s going to take care of an unwanted child. the “when life begins” issue is a moot point relative to that. thanks for the comment. continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | January 27, 2012, 8:43 pmThat is what disturbs me most. While the socially conservative wing of the gop is in ascendancy, they simultaneously cut all programs that would help anyone after they are alive.
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Posted by El Guapo | January 27, 2012, 8:47 pmTom, I feel here that i must add that i absolutely admire Dr. Paul for his honesty, and his being quite unafraid to speak his mind in a forthright manner. it’s just that i have great problems with too many of his positions. Again, thanks as always for your thoughtful additions to the debate. continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | January 28, 2012, 5:03 amThis issue has never sat well with me – the GOP always hide behind their “less government” banner, but they want the right to dictate on the most personal and important matters! Forcing women who do not want/ should not have children will only increase the need for the other programs they want to illiminate (welfare, etc)…..how does this compute? Not every female that is capable of getting pregnant is capabe of being a mother – In Philly, we lived down the street from an orphanage & I cried every time I had to drive past it; and I am now stepmom to girls whose bio- mom clearly could benefit from planned parenthood programs, she is NOT fit to raise goldfish. Sorry, I’ll give you you’re blog back…..
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Posted by MJ, Nonstepmom | January 26, 2012, 3:26 pmJanet, you are always very welcome to go on at great length in any comment you make…especially on any subject i touch on which you are so obviously this passionate about. the men who say let’s kill planned parenthood are the real murderers…perhaps they should be made to parent all these children. yeah – sure. Thanks for the heartfelt comment. continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | January 29, 2012, 1:56 amTony…I know how interested you are in our internet rights, and that you participated in the Blackout. Take a look at this. I was appalled when I saw this this morning: http://destructionist.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/obama-signs-global-internet-treaty-worse-than-sopa-white-house-bypasses-senate-to-ink-agreement-that-could-allow-chinese-companies-to-demand-isps-remove-web-content-in-us-with-no-legal-oversight/
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Posted by Janece | January 26, 2012, 1:58 pmThis is scary stuff.
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Posted by Don in Massachusetts | January 27, 2012, 3:00 amYeah, there’s more Don. It is scary stuff. Proof positive (yet again) of Obama’s total disregard for the rule of law, our constitution, and the Magna Carta. Combine this with the NDAA he recently signed as well and – as a recent article on the tremendous fall that the US has taken on the Press Freedom Index (a whopping 135% from 20th to 27th in 2011 (http://www.activistpost.com/2012/01/us-falls-dramatic-135-on-press-freedom.html), the word for 2012 is “CRACKDOWN”.
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Posted by Janece | January 27, 2012, 1:00 pmi do not like censorship in most forms…but i do not for the life of me know how you can extrapolate from this China thing “Obama’s total disregard for the rule of law, our constitution, and the Magna Carta.” a bit of hyperbole and a huuuuge stretch i’d say. having said that, i also do not believe that because of this one issue, which i still am not sure what Obama’s reasons are for going along with, that this means we must elect a republican who wants to do away with FEMA, who believes abortion should be “illegal” even in cases of rape or incest – and is “the most important issue of our age”, and who believes Social Security and Medicare to be “unconstitutional” (as if the founders had a clue as to present day population, and to present day circumstances caused by the oligarchy robbing the middle class blind), and by the way, since he also opposes most, if not all, of our “social safety net” who takes care of the unwanted children born out of rape or incest? and who believes both education and healthcare are “not a right” which is a dangerous place to start from in making us a stronger nation…i could go on, but i’ll stop here. anyway, thanks for the comment(s) Janece, Tom, sorry if we disagree on Dr. Paul. but you’ll never convince me that, in light of present day conditions – and not those when the Constitution was ratified- which is where Dr. Paul seems to be firmly planted, that anyone who feels this way on the above issues/problems is a good fit to lead this country. continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | January 27, 2012, 9:37 pmas far as our ranking in the “press freedom index” goes, here is a quote from the Diplomat (Jan. 26, 2012): “For those wondering, the United States also took a tumble, from 20th place last year to 47th, mostly, the report says, because of the “many arrests of journalists covering Occupy Wall Street protests.” hmmm, i wonder who it was who wanted them arrested?
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Posted by barkinginthedark | January 28, 2012, 4:08 amJanece, I feel here that i must add that i absolutely admire Dr. Paul for his honesty, and his being quite unafraid to speak his mind in a forthright manner. it’s just that i have great problems with too many of his positions. Again, thanks as always for your thoughtful addition to the debate. continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | January 28, 2012, 5:02 amWow, some very wise words… Bravo! Well done (again)!!
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Posted by She speaks.... | January 26, 2012, 6:52 amof course, yet some continue to be conflicted by this obvious answer. Thanks Michelle, continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | January 27, 2012, 9:00 pmI’m sorry – well, actually I’m not – but I become very very irate when (nothing personal here to you), but when men sitting in congress and senate (as the majority ARE men) sit there and pass a bill which will is impossible to affect them directly, but does affect me directly being a woman and the one who would be the child-bearer. At the tender young age of 16 yrs old, I became sexually active. My best friend in high school was already int to her 6th month of pregnancy. I did not want to end up like her as I had plans to go to college. I knew there was no way I would be able to approach my mother about birth control. Born in 1925 as Mennonite farmer, she was very “old school.” So, I called Planned Parenthood, made an appt, and took the responsibility to make sure I was never a teenage mother. Thank Horus for Planned Parenthood. They do a thousand times more than just abortions – which, again, should be a woman’s decision since they are the child-bearer. I am not pro-abortion, but I am most definitely pro-choice. Imagine what could have been done in this country if we had taken all the monies put forth by the pro-lifers and used it towards education, birth control, health care for a pregnant woman who wished to put the baby up for adoption. But, no… hate and the battle of control continues on….
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Posted by She speaks.... | January 27, 2012, 9:12 pmyes, of course there is a HUGE difference between pro-choice and pro-abortion. i too, find it interesting to say the least that the right-to-life (love THAT moniker) spokespersons are usually holier-than-thou, white, high- pitch voiced men…there’s definitely something there. thank you Michell. continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | January 28, 2012, 3:38 am