An Offer I Can Refuse

enyart, personhood, initiative, abortion,

Yesterday, I got an email:

Dear Ms. Failure:

I read your blog on personhood at “Forever in Hell”, (an apt name for the blog of one in the legal profession I must say).

But seriously, a radio station in Denver will be examining the implications of “personhood” over the next several weeks. (This unabashedly “fundy” movement started here in Colorado in 2007, and there is an effort afoot to put it back on the 2010 ballot)

If you’d like to put your 5 minutes of thought up against one of the “fundys” who started the “Personhood Movement” I’d be glad to set it up.

I understand if you decline, (so far I’ve found no one on the anti- personhood side willing to debate).

Call or e-mail to schedule or to decline.

May your god bless you according to your works,

Doug XxXxxxxx
xxx-xxx-xxx

I'll admit, I was complimented. A little hesitant, in that I've never done anything live, and I sound like a congested 7-year-old, but ummmm . . . why not? The "Ms. Failure" salutation is a little odd, in that it's fairly obvious nobody named me "Personal", but okay. May your god bless you according to your works, actually had me thinking I wasn't talking to a fundy. (Works are anethema to the Once Saved, Always Saved crew, and "your god"? There is only one god to that sort.) So, you know, Unitarians maybe.

But questions were in order. I asked whom I would be debating. (Note the signature. All it included in the initial email was a name and a phone number.)

Ms. Failure:

You’d be speaking with Bob Enyart, (google him, you’ll find plenty)! He’s exactly the brand of fundy you zealously ridicule and would therefore be an apt foil.

"Zealously" gave me a bit of a twitch. It's one of those fundy words the rest of the world doesn't use much. Though lawyers are instructed to "zealously defend" their clients, so not conclusive.

Then I looked up Bob Enyart. Oh, yeah, not just a fundy, that one.

Enyart is also known for his views on adultery, homosexuality and abortion saying that they are acts which should be punishable by death. Enyart pickets the homes of doctors performing abortions resulting in one Colorado town banning such protests in residential areas. Enyart also angered families of AIDS vicims when he read the men's obituaries on his television show calling the deceased "sodomite"s. Enyart has also led residential protests against executives of a company which provided construction services for Planned Parenthood offices leading to similar neighbor complaints. Most recently Enyart has criticised presidential candidates who do not share his view on abortion.

Enyart is a proponent of corporal punishment of children saying that their "hearts are lifted" by spanking. He was sentenced with 60 days in jail for misdemeanor child abuse in 1994. Enyart hit his then girlfriend's 7 year old son with a belt hard enough to break the skin. Upon release from jail, Enyart's parole officer filed an objection with the court to Enyart's appearing on the Politically Incorrect television show but a judge disagreed allowing the appearance.

A series of late night phone calls by Enyart to the general manager of the Kenosha, Wisconsin station which carried his program but publicly disagreed with Enyart's views prompted Senator Russ Feingold to call for an FCC investigation to see if any laws had been broken by the talk show host.

In June 2009, Bob Enyart was sentenced to 9 days in jail for criminal trespass following a protest at Focus on the Family over an allegation that James Dobson has gone back on a pledge never to support a political candidate who, in any way, backed or allowed abortion. This sentence was imposed after Enyart refused both to pay a fine or do community service.

And then I realized why they were contacting me (as it turns out, Doug works for Mr. Enyart. The signature on his later replies made that clear, though the connection was edited out of earlier emails): plenty of feminist bloggers feel the same way I do about the Personhood Initiative, only they are experienced debaters, and likely wouldn't give Mr. Enyart the time of day. Basically, if you're contacting me for debates, you're scraping the bottom of the debating barrel.

I am thinking of tuning in to see who they roped in to Mr. Enyart's "foil" on this particular subject. I'll count myself lucky it wasn't me.