Why Alito must not be confirmed

Well hell, here I was about to write a thoughtful, reasoned, information-rich, and witty essay telling people that Alito is wrong for the Supreme Court and will gut our civil liberties, when lo and behold, ReddHedd from Firedoglake (a very insightful website, by the way-- her and Jane Hamsher are pretty good at this bloggy stuff) already has. Unfortunately, her writing is so thoroughly studded with important hyperlinks that copying a quote really doesn't do it any justice. Just go read it yourself.

On a side note, even though I'm not in total agreement with her, she provides possibly the most cogent argument for abortion rights I've ever heard:

I don't want people to have more abortions. If I could, I'd wave a wand and make all babies be born under ideal circumstances to parents who would love and care for them.

But I happen to live in the all-too-real world, where sexual abuse and violent rape and all those other nasty things happen, where children wake up and wonder if there will be any food for them to eat -- right here in the US of A -- and where other things that most people can never even imagine happen within families and neighborhoods and all over the place.

And I know enough to know this: I don't speak for God, and neither should anyone else. That's why it is an individual choice -- you make peace with your own soul, your own faith and your own family and friends based on your own, individual and hideous circumstances in each case -- and beyond that, it's no one's business. And I say this as someone who struggled with fertility issues for close to seven years and fully understands how very precious that life is. But I've seen enough horrible things in my life in the law to know that there are just some circumstances where you cannot know unless you happen to be walking in those particular shoes...those very dismal, very difficult shoes.

Gambling with this right is not something anyone sensible should do, given the long-term implications and the horrible circumstances we saw in this country when illegal abortions were being performed. A vote for Alito is a vote for the back alley, plain and simple.