Four Decades Later, Roe vs. Wade Still Roils Tenn. Politics

Look what ACLU is complaining about....don't they want the woman to get care???? Look what happened to Planned Parenthood client in Chicago...they left her bleeding for 5 hours before sending her to the ER where she later died.


Four Decades Later, Roe vs. Wade Still Roils Tenn. Politics
By Mike Osborne


MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) -- Tuesday marks the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion. Four decades later the ruling continues to fuel controversy here in Tennessee.

Hedy Weinberg of the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union contends the Tennessee Legislature is slowly chipping away at the reproductive rights of women.

“Over the last 12 years, Tennessee legislators have attempted to enact a web of restrictions that force government deeper and deeper into the personal and very private decisions about reproductive healthcare that women should be able to make on their own.”

Weinberg says the most recent of those restrictions was enacted last year when a measure was passed requiring doctors providing abortions in Tennessee to have admitting privileges at a local hospital.

Susan Allen speaks for the pro-life group Tennessee Right to Life. She sees the admitting privileges requirement as just common sense.

“If there were complications with the abortion, which does happen, that the doctor – the attending doctor – that was doing the abortion could take the woman to the hospital to give her care.”

Allen says a delegation from Tennessee will be traveling to Washington D.C. this week to take part in the annual March for Life event on Friday.

TN: ACLU gets apology and in KY yr old dismissed chg gets lawsuit from DOJ??

 I meant to post on this yesterday but I got carried away with the story of the US Dept. of Justice filing a federal lawsuit nearly a year after a misdemeanor was dismissed against a man who was on a public sidewalk in front of an abortion mill in Louisville, KY charged with disorderly conduct.  Since the original charge was a misdemeanor and dismissed and the man has moved out of state, I could not understand why the DOJ was wasting time and tax money on this nearly a year after the event. The  reporter did not seem interested in digging to find those answers. KY RTL had no clue either and  we know pro life viewpoints are under scrutiny in this administration and many of us are probably on a watch list. Where is the ACLU outrage here?


Now to this.....Nashville City paper reports that Hedy growled and got the ACLU an apology for putting them on a watch list  for sending out letters to school superintendents warning of too much Christmas might be detrimental to their legal health. As one commenter pointed out,  the ACLU brought this on themselves.

Tea Party post from Judson Phillips today enlightens many on one of the reasons the ACLU loves to sue...it is almost a fund raising activity for them. He is talking about a decision out of San Fransisco that awarded two ..."attorneys who worked for the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation....designated a supporter of terrorism .......press reports state critical intelligence was obtained from monitoring this group."They received a nominal monetary award for being watched but the lawyers representing them received $2.5 MM in fees!

"Ignoring all other issues of this case, this award of fees is one of the dirty secrets of the liberal-political complex.  Under Federal Law, in certain cases, the plaintiff can be awarded attorney’s fees.   In many of these cases, a plaintiff will be awarded nominal damages and the attorneys will walk away with seven figures in attorney’s fees.

This is one of the reasons the ACLU is so gung ho to sue and one of the reasons many municipalities capitulate to the ACLU when the ACLU makes some demand on them.  Many smaller jurisdictions cannot afford to pay their own attorneys and then if they lose, they will get stuck with the ACLU’s attorneys fees as well."

A victory for Christmas in CA.....

 A Choral Society decided to entertain Christmas shoppers with a impromtu performance of the "Hallelujah Chorus” as had been done in other cities with much appreciated approval. They picked a mall that had suffered from a fire last fall. After contacting management and getting their approval, they put out message via the social media and hoped for a few hundred to show up. Be careful what you wish for. 5,000 showed up to hear the singing and participate and show their appreciation and yes to celebrate CHRISTMAS....but alas due to safety concerns the mall had to be evacuated. No injuries and property damage reported. One firefighter said, keep singing but please move outside for safety. The caroling continued outside. Is this a victory for Christmas......ACLU and Hedy Weinberg. (Note: in TN...head of ACLU sent a letter  to school superintendents warning against singing Christmas carols and  I would say so. 

Read press account here and statement from the group who organized it here.

TN ACLU: We wish you a Merry Christmas NOT

From the Tennessean (who by the way thought Hedy Weinberg pictured left should be considered Tennessean of  the Year last year... and the TN state legislature ended up honoring her at the end of the session when Senator Haynes snuck in a resolution in the waning hours)

The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee has warned school officials across the state about holiday celebrations. So my 6 yr old grandchild who has been practicing her We wish you a Merry Christmas for the pageant is in violation? Get a life Weinberg! I know Christmas this year is on a Saturday but I know since it is a federal holiday the ACLU offices are closed on Christmas Day. I bet that this year the offices will be closed on Friday to celebrate the federal holiday of Christmas.

"In a letter to the 137 public school superintendents, the group reminded them that holiday celebrations focusing primarily on one religious holiday amount to a school's unconstitutional endorsement of religion."

"The ACLU sued the Cheatham County school district last November because the organization said the system promoted and endorsed a number of religious activities."

Update on resolution to honor ACLU chief Weinberg....it is on the table

Nashville Scenes, Jeff Woods, published this update last night.... "In the House, Republicans already have bumped the resolution from the consent calendar, where such measures are usually adopted unanimously. It's on tonight's House agenda for a separate up-or-down vote. Fireworks are likely." "Update: The House postponed voting on the resolution at the request of the sponsor, Rep. Brenda Gilmore, D-Nashville. There was no debate."
Commenter on the original post points out that when it was on the Senate side, Senator Beavers bumped it from the consent calendar to the regular calendar one time and when it came up again, she tried once more to bump it and was told to vote no or pass but you can't vote no on the consent calendar, you can only pass. Remember four passed, Beavers, Black, Tracy and Southerland.


We may see this come up again but as Humphrey on the Hill points out in his article , some Dems outside of the urban areas might feel uncomfortable defending their support.

TN Senate Idol Show: Hedy Weinberg More Popular Than Michael Jackson!

 Interesting write up on the State senate voting to honor Hedy Weinberg, ACLU Director.....it is being considered today on the House floor.....what I think it interesting is the way Senator Haynes had to change it to get votes and the way this vote may be used against candidates running for office...

TNSenate Idol Show: Hedy Weinberg More Popular Than Michael Jackson!

A resolution honoring Hedy Weinberg for serving 25 years as executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Tennessee has passed the state Senate after revisions intended to reduce controversy.
But the revised resolution, approved 26-0 in the Senate with four Republican senators abstaining and three members absent, has nonetheless drawn criticism. It is scheduled for a House floor vote Monday evening.
Sen. Joe Haynes, D-Nashville, sponsored the resolution with nine co-sponsors, all Democrats. He withdrew the original version (SJR708) after a Republican objected to it being included on a list of non-controversial items slated for passage with unanimous approval and replaced it with a second, revised version (SJR782).
"That's the only way I could get it passed," Haynes said of the watered-down version in an interview. "I think everybody over there (on the Republican side) was concerned about kickback from some of their people."
The revisions included deletion of references to the ACLU having "gay and straight" members - retained is a reference to having supporters who are "Democrats,
Republicans and Libertarians and religious and non-religious" - and a declaration of the ACLU's readiness to defend "the outcasts of society."
Also stripped from the original version was a paragraph hailing Weinberg's "brilliant direction" of the ACLU in opposing racial profiling and legislation to mandate that driver's license exam be conducted in English only while supporting efforts "to get Tennessee schools to end censorship of gay educational sites."
Traditionally, almost any congratulatory resolution has been approved automatically as a courtesy to the sponsoring legislator. A change in that attitude was reflected earlier with the Senate's rejection of a House-passed resolution honoring the late entertainer Michael Jackson.
(The historic roll call vote on the Michael Jackson resolution -- seven yes, seven no and everyone else dodging the issue as best they could -- is HERE.)
"Welcome to the Republican (controlled) General Assembly. That's the difference, in my opinion," said Haynes.
On the Senate floor, the revised resolution was approved without debate but apparently with considerable consternation on how to vote. Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey held the voting machine open for several moments, during which some members shifted their votes.
When the final vote was taken, there were zero no votes. The four abstaining, and thus declining to take a position, were Republican Sens. Mae Beavers of Mount Juliet, Diane Black of Gallatin, Jim Tracy of Shelbyville and Steve Southerland of Morristown. Black and Tracy are among six candidates seeking the GOP nomination for the 6th District Congressional seat.
Ramsey, who is running for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, voted for the resolution along with Senate Republican Leader Mark Norris of Collierville.
When the resolution came to the House, Rep. Glen Casada of College Grove, who is House Republican Caucus chairman, "bumped" it from the list of measures slated for unanimous approval and thus set up the Monday House floor vote.
Meanwhile, Senate approval of the resolution had attracted critical commentary. The blog "Pro-Life In Tennessee," for example, focused on Weinberg's support for a lawsuit that led to a Tennessee Supreme Court ruling widely criticized by anti-abortion activists.
Andy Sere, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, meanwhile, used the situation to attack Democratic Sen. Roy Herron of Dresden, who is running for the 8th District Congressional nomination and who voted yes on honoring the ACLU leader.

"Weinberg and her organization support removing God from the public square; banning the death penalty; restricting the 2nd Amendment right of Tennesseans to keep and bear arms; and allowing abortion-on-demand & gay marriage," said Sere in an emailed news release to reporters. "But Roy Herron voted to 'honor and commend' that agenda."

Haynes said he sponsored the resolution as a simple matter of taking note of an fellow Nashvillian's involvement in the public arena; not as a political statement. Typically, such resolutions with their flowery language are designed to be framed and hung in a place where family and friends can admire.

"I haven't always agreed with Hedy... like when she was for the Ku Klux Klan marching (at an event in Pulaski years ago)," Haynes said when asked why he pushed a resolution praising Weinberg. "But I respect her. But she believes in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and has worked hard for 25 years for those principles."


Posted by Tom Humphrey on February 21, 2010 at 2:06 PM