Salon has an interesting article which does a great job of exposing the horror of Stalingrad, as against the theme-park version of it that occupies most of Enemy at the Gates.

Salon.com Politics | Bush to impose new abortion limits — JACKASS! Bush has decided to try to reissue the global gag rule in a form that cannot be overridden by the will of Congress (i.e., the people’s representatives). I can only hope that people remember this thuggish, Napoleonic streak of Bush’s come 2004…

P.S. Why does Bush continue to repeat that It is my conviction that taxpayer funds should not be used to pay for abortions or advocate or actively promote abortion either here or abroad? It’s already against the law for this to happen. What Bush is complaining about is taxpayer funds which are earmarked not to go towards abortion, going to family planning groups which also do provide abortion advocacy or abortion services. If Bush is going to say that that constitutes U.S. money going to abortion, then why the hell don’t faith-based initiatives constitute giving taxpayer money for evangelism? (Answer: they don’t, and neither does giving taxpayer money to family planning services constitute using taxpayer money for abortions). Bush is either (a) stupid, (b) lying, or (c) crazy. The sad thing is I really can’t rule out any of them.

Excellent news from Switzerland, as the Swiss Parliament has legalized abortion. The Swiss are notorious laggards when it comes to women’s rights issues: that whole women’s suffrage thing didn’t go through until 1971, but this is an encouraging sign. Unfortunately the Christian People’s Party may be able to hold up decriminalization for a few years by forcing a referendum before the new law is enacted. I do applaud CPP for their honesty about the fundamentally obstructionist, anti-choice, anti-woman nature of their stance: the Party President, Adalbert Durrer, summed it up by saying that The question of abortion should not be considered by the woman alone. [She needs a big strong white-coated man in there to overcome her feminine irrationality!]

In international news, war criminal and genocidal maniac Ariel Sharon has been officially approved as Prime Minister of Israel. The New York Times notes that, In a speech to the Knesset, Sharon said his coalition would be ready for painful compromises toward peace with the Palestinians, but not under the pressure of violence and terror. Indeed, the pressure of violence and terror would be an excellent thing to remove from the process; for example, dug-in Israeli blockades around Palestinian ghettoes that prevent innocent civilians from receiving medical care. Not to mention continuing assassinations of Palestinian leaders and attacks on Palestinian children…

The most outrageous thing about the whole affair is, of course, that Sharon has succeeded in getting exactly what he aimed to: he started the current Intifadah with his incindiery visit to the al-Aqsa (accompanied by a crowd of heavily armed security troops) mosque at a time of high tension in the peace process. Why? In order to incite conflict and weaken Barak’s already-tenuous hold on office. Now, with hundreds of Palestinians slaughtered by Israeli military and riots by Jewish settlers, he has gotten his way. Congratulations Arik.