One Wisconsin Now

U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms (R-What's Wrong With You Sick, Frothing Morons?) is finally dead. Happy birthday, U.S. of A.

Helms was a hate-slathered cretin, whose campaigns and governing showed American democracy at its worst. "White people, wake up before it is too late. Do you want Negroes working beside you, your wife and your daughters, in your mills and factories? Frank Graham favors mingling of the races," thundered just one of many Helms' attacks over the decades.

Conservatives are saddened by the news. "Ol' 27 percent" George W. Bush was soiling his White House crying towel, calling Helms "kind," "decent" and "humble."

And while he had some admirers in Wisconsin, most notably Supreme Court Justice-Elect Mike Gableman's ad-writing team, Helms was a racist thug and the world mourns, simply because it took him so, so long to exit the world he befouled for over eight decades.

For my dough, I'm hoping Wonkette Editor Ken Layne has penned in "Jesse Helms: American Garbage," what will be a waterfall of appropriate tributes.

Feel free to add even better ones to the comment portion of this blog. Helms deserves it for all he did to people of color, gays, the poor and this nation's sense of decency. 

It is no secret that anti-choice groups have long used radical tactics to oppose abortion. This year, we saw young children outfitted in "I survived the American Holocaust" tee shirts in legislative hearings in the Wisconsin capitol. Last July, we watched in horror as a group of "pro-lifers" staged, in front of a Milwaukee abortion clinic, a celebratory reenactment of the murder of a Florida abortion provider and his escort by Paul Hill.  In short, their campaigns and demonstrations have grown increasingly extreme and more inappropriate as of late.

Continuing in this vein, Pro-Life Wisconsin is holding prayer vigils across the state on June 7, the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision Griswold v. Connecticut. For non-history buffs, this 1965 Supreme Court decision struck down a Connecticut law outlawing contraception for married couples. Since the legalization of contraception, birth control has become commonplace in our society. In fact, 98% of American women use contraception at some point during their lifetime. Despite birth control’s popularity and safety, Pro-Life Wisconsin is joining other anti-choice groups on June 7 to protest outside family planning clinics that prescribe and dispense contraception to low income women. The name of their oh-so-subtle campaign? "Protest the Pill Day '08: The Pill Kills Babies".

Yes, you read that correctly. No longer satisfied with attacking a woman’s right to choose abortion, Pro-Life Wisconsin is now attacking the millions of women who use contraception to prevent unwanted pregnancies.