Mystery? What Mystery?

Below the Belt: A Biweekly Column by NOW President Kim Gandy

August 4, 2005

I keep reading in the papers and hearing on the news that Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' views are "unknown" or "a mystery." The media can't seem to figure him out. But here's my take:

Roberts worked for Reagan and Bush I. He clerked for Rehnquist. He was a special legal advisor to Jeb Bush during the 2000 election havoc in Florida. He was Deputy Solicitor General under Ken Starr. In court, he has argued against women's and civil rights time and again, from trying to topple Roe v. Wade and federal affirmative action programs to removing ADA protections and siding with Operation Rescue. His mother goes on national TV to talk about the centrality to their family life of their Roman Catholic faith. And to top it off, his wife is a legal advisor, major donor, and former board member of that oxymoronic group, "Feminists for Life." So I ask: where's the mystery?

Make no mistake: throughout his career, Roberts has consistently supported and promoted an anti-woman, anti-civil rights, and anti-worker agenda. His views are no secret, and if he is confirmed, we are in for decades of bad decisions from him. Visit our Save the Court page, email and call your Senators, write op/eds for your local papers or Letters to the Editor, talk to your friends, neighbors, colleagues, and family. Do everything you can! We all must raise our voices against this extremist and partisan nominee—NOW, before it's too late.

Moving on to another beltway bandit, here's a little "PlameGate Update" about everyone's favorite lying leaker, Karl Rove. His newest angle is that he had no idea Valerie Plame was covert, a line that rings about as true as "Honestly, officer, I thought that light was still yellow." And if her identity wasn't supposed to be a closely-guarded secret, how come memos about her that Rove received were stamped "Confidential" in multiple places? Either he's a vindictive traitor, exposing and endangering a female CIA operative to get to her husband, or he's an idiot. Either way, he shouldn't be on the White House payroll, and probably should be indicted!

Meanwhile, the Bush Administration isn't doing so hot on foreign policy matters, either. Last week, the White House lobbying forces tried to block legislation (which, by the way, is supported by Republican Senators!) that would prohibit "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" of detainees, require the military to register prisoners with the Red Cross, and prohibit any interrogation method that is not authorized by the new Army field manual. Cheney himself was trotted out to meet with top Republican senators to press Bush's "presidential authority" in such matters. Does being president give you the right to torture people? I thought that was only on FOX TV's "24."

And here's another foreign policy issue: remember all the good press for Bush last year about how the new Iraqi Constitution mandated that women made up at least 25% of the interim government? Well, the interim government's time is almost up, and the right-wingers in Iraq are pushing for elimination of that promise of inclusion for women. One major proposal for the new constitution would place family law (including marriage, divorce, and inheritance) squarely under the jurisdiction of religious rather than secular courts, a move that would be devastating for women. Where is Bush's concern for the women of Iraq now? Right.

Then there's the FBI—they may not be watching the real criminals like Rove, but they're sure busy watching us and our allies! The New York Times reports that the FBI has over a thousand pages of internal documents on the ACLU, and more than two thousand on that other dangerous group, Greenpeace. John Passacantando, Greenpeace's executive director for the U.S., has said: "If the F.B.I. has taken the time to gather 2,400 pages of information on an organization that has a perfect record of peaceful activity for 34 years, it suggests they're just attempting to stifle the voices of their critics." Apparently the feds are keeping tabs on 150 or so activist groups that oppose the Bush Administration and its policies. So look out, Big Brother Bush is watching (not that that'll stop us any!).

And last but certainly not least, we have an ETA from the FDA on EC sale OTC! Translation: the Food and Drug Administration has finally set an estimated time (September 1) for its decision on whether "Plan B" Emergency Contraception can be sold over-the counter. OTC status is essential for EC, since the time window within which women can take it to prevent pregnancy is narrow, making it difficult to obtain a doctor's prescription in time — and at the same time more and more pharmacists are refusing to dispense it, even to women who have a prescription.

The FDA has shamefully put this decision off time and again for 19 months now, even though two expert panels overwhelmingly recommended giving it OTC status, and even though women's health and lives are on the line. Three cheers for the two women U.S. Senators (Hillary Clinton and Patty Murray) who finally forced the FDA to make a decision on this by holding up the Senate's confirmation vote of the new FDA nominee, Lester Crawford. The Senators said in a joint statement: "After more than two years of waiting, American consumers and American women will finally get an answer . . . Our hold on [Crawford's] nomination is about one thing only: the FDA's failure to provide an answer on Plan B." Right on!

That's all for this week, folks—raise some hell about Roberts in your area, and tune in next time for a little "virtual tour" of feminist updates from around the states.