Iraq again

I wasn't home to watch Obama's speech, for I was working overtime. From what I read and understand, he's announced a strategy of airstrikes against ISIL, military advising/assistance, supporting the new Iraqi government, and humanitarian aid. He emphasized the international coalition and the fact that no combat troops will be sent. I hope it won't turn into another war, certainly, but I worry how far things will go in both Iraq and Syria. I know that war hawks have been clamoring for action for a while, but I wish the US didn't have to go down this dangerous road. We've broken that region so many times already.

Something disgusting I read today was that a rightwing blogger didn't believe that Wendy Davis actually had her abortions that she revealed in her memoir. What the fuck? So it's apparently "convenient" for her to make up a story about abortion to help her campaign for governor? Despite the fact that it would have been more convenient to use such a story during her filibuster? Despite the fact that some Texas voters are already prejudiced against her as "Abortion Barbie" and wouldn't be sympathetic to her having an abortion in the past. It's disgusting for this guy to claim that Wendy's abortions are somehow statistically unlikely. "Unlikely" doesn't mean "never happens ever" you idiot! Besides, whatever reason a woman has an abortion is not your fucking business. She was trying to push back against the conservative idea that women who have abortions are sluts who casually decide to kill babies without any thought at all. (The anti-abortion laws keep putting in waiting periods, as if a time delay is going to change a woman's mind.) She was giving a personal example of an abortion that happened because of necessity, with pain and mourning, by a married woman. She was trying to open some minds to the idea that rational, moral people sometimes do make this choice.

Abortions are supposed to be legal in this country, despite all these restrictions lawmakers keep passing. Wendy shared her private medical history, which she didn't have to share at all, and you want to imply that she's lying, and that the abortions are "alleged"? Fuck you. If she didn't have the abortions, that she could just as easily have written a heartfelt story about some female friend who had an abortion, and talked about how it inspired her to do the filibuster. She doesn't have to claim to have an abortion herself in order to talk about the issue. The filibuster was about trying to preserve the abortion access throughout the state for all women, no matter what their reasons for terminating the pregnancy. Abortions can easily be about economic issues, or rape, or incest, just as easily as health issues. The point is that we're supposed to be able have the choice, whichever category we fall into! Arggh! And this is without even getting into Hobby Lobby and the war against even having birth control. "Ooh, my religious beliefs are violated because you spend your own damn money on health insurance and expect to be covered for things I don't like." Employees aren't your fucking children that you give an allowance to and set rules on what they can buy. They earned their damn money, and it's their own family life, not yours, Hobby Lobby!