Salon's Peruvian Warrior Mama Helped me steal this title: Have The Culture Wars Jumped the Shark?

In case you're not familiar (I wasn't until very recently), "Jumping the Shark" in TV Land refers to the turning point at which it becomes apparent that a show has stayed too long at the party, and is using irrelevant, outlandish, or just plain stupid gimmicks to keep the audence's attention... usually to its detriment (The expression came from the episode of Happy Days in which the Fonz jumped over a shark on waterskis)

Anyhow, Anna contends that the increasing number of officials making public statements against contraception (even between married couples) may well be just such a turning point. She says it better than I can:

McCarthy’s witch hunts stopped when he began attacking the Army. In televised hearings that turned the tide of public opinion against him, McCarthy accused Army Attorney General Joseph Welch of employing a man who belonged to an organization that had been accused of Communist sympathies. Welch asked, “Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”

***snip***

for a topic traditionally confined to individuals, families, and their doctors,
a move into the sphere of public policy is shocking indeed. I think that
ultimately, this shock will have the effect of moving contraceptive choices back
where they belong — with couples themselves.

I sincerely hope so. I want to believe it.

Another post from Anna resonates here -- I have to admit - I'm not a big fan of abortion -- I have doubts about it - real ones, that have nothing to do with the sex lives of people i've never met(hey what you do is your business) little to do with my religious beliefs(did Jesus even say anything about this? seriously, someone who knows the bible help me out here! Redd?) and a lot to do with knowing very well someone who was born so prematurely his mom was not considered "pregnant enough" to merit a bed in the maternity ward after delivery.

But I also don't dare presume to elevate my feelings to the status of law for the most personal decison imaginable.


So it seems to me, that