"The rebellion is not about what clothes you are wearing or whether you turn your back to the audience - it's not about shocking for the shock's sake. It's not about singing Smack My Bitch Up and pretending to be hard. All you do is to get your name on K-Mart's black list. It easy, and boring. So Prodigy, if you want to be hard, go to an abortion clinic and try to help those girls who have had an abortion in a front of 20 shotguns. Try to be rough and don't tell how you beat up your girlfriends, if you got the balls to do that." -- Tori Amos

'Twas a busy day being the 30th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision Roe V. Wade which determined that women had a right to privacy after all and the Constitution shouldn't just adorn right-wingers dart boards. A collection of the pro-choice groups in Kansas made a special trip to Topeka to lobby the legislature. I was quite impressed with Topeka. Never before have I found a city which managed to block off part of every street for construction. Not only was the construction bad but every parking spot was permit parking only, except for the churches surrounding the capital building which provided plenty of parking for the anti-choice crowd. So we parked illegally and with Poseidon on our side we didn't get a ticket.

The antis had a small turnout in the capital compared to the pro-choicers, unless you could the hordes of children bused in then they had the larger crowd. The local Catholic schools used their

State Representative Paul Davis joined others in the press conference to show support for reproductive freedom and women's rights.

resources and their disdain for education to bring in as many children as they could as part of their education. No wonder they want vouchers, then they could have more resources free for their political exploitation of their students. The antis occupied the first floor selling their wares and preaching their gospels. I wondered if the scene was anything like Jesus saw when he confronted the moneychangers in the temple. The pro-choicers had the second floor where donations were accepted but there was no hawking of snake oil and no use of

children as political propaganda. We happily went around to the antis' tables and took all the free items they were giving away, they didn't look to happy when we went around the second time. It was the usual crap about how birth control is murder, abortion is murder, vasectomy is a sin and how sex is wrong until you get that magic piece of paper from the government where sex becomes okay.

The scene upstairs was much more pleasant, orderly and polite. When we first signed in a couple antis came to disrupt the event. They asked how we could kill people and when they were told they had their own event to go to and didn't need to disrupt ours they made the claim they were just interested in the truth. These morons probably voted for Bush because lies are acceptable when done for Jesus. After some mingling we settled in for the press conference. State Representative Paul Davis spoke about how he will present a bill which will require health insurance plans to cover the pill. He pointed out how Viagra will be covered but birth control won't and how every dollar spent on birth control prevents

Yet another anti feels the need to disrupt the pro-choice event.

four dollars in spending on pregnancy related matters. Conservatives would sign on to the plan if they actually cared about fiscal responsibility. State Representative Geraldine Flaherty spoke as well about her plan to reduce unwanted pregnancies (therefore the number of abortions) but it too involved birth control which the people downstairs abhor (much like they abhor common sense). When the speakers were finished questions were to be accepted from the press. Lying about being a member of the press an anti with no press credentials started screaming against abortion just so she could get the cameras on her. Imagine the negative reaction that we would receive if a pro-choice person disrupted one of their events. It's okay for the fundies to do it because their sense of morality doesn't include the Golden Rule.

We left in a snowy flurry to head back for the Wichita Roe v. Wade event which many of the Maggot Punks helped plan and organize. Oh yes, it was a Wednesday so you probably want to know what happened at the clinic.

The Wichita event went better than expected. Two security guards were hired but no antis showed up to disrupt. It was probably because Troy Newman, head of the terrorist organization Operation Rescue was in D.C. making an ass of himself and the antis had an event at a tax-exempt church at the same time. Ours was at the classy Old Town Cabaret. It was attended by musicians, local celebrities, and Courageous Champions of Choice. The audience was laughing and applauding throughout the evening and rising up in cheers during emotional speeches given by heroes like Dr. George Tiller. Annie Sprinkles designed the shirts for the evening. We still have a few left and can probably get some out to you for $15 each. The highlight of the evening was the 30-minute documentary: "Who Owns a Woman? The Thin Line of Citizens Fighting
to Protect Women's Reproductive Healthcare in

Wichita, Kansas." The documentary focused exclusively on the Wichita anti-abortion protest history from the attempted assassination of Dr. Tiller, the clinic bombing of Tiller's office, to modern events like Rev. Dan getting arrested. Featured prominently on the video was our own Spunkyflasher providing a lot of the commentary about current events. Also present were many shots of the Maggot Punks in action. So if anyone wants a copy of the video stay tuned to this website and we'll tell you how to get a copy. Oh yes, the antis are featured too including one moron who says the pro-choicers use witchcraft and demon worship inside the clinics. Damn these guys are stupid but the guy making that claim is Garth from the criminal Spirit One Christian Center headed by defrocked Rev. Mark Holick.

Just for kicks I'd like to point out the big Army of God rally for admitted murderer and self-proclaimed Christian was a complete flop. Not even a dozen lunatics showed up and were greatly outnumbered by Courageous Champions of Choice. The Maggot Punks aren't surprised by the low turnout because the AOG is primarily a bunch of cowards who yell loudly like any troll on an internet discussion board but prefers to hide in the closet with their cowardly buddies. Seeing that there are so few of them there is still plenty of room in their closet and no need for them to come out any time soon.

Book of the Day: When Abortion Was a Crime: Women, Medicine, and Law in the United States, 1867-1973
by Leslie J. Reagan

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