In the words of Bad Astronomer, Phil Plait:
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
45. Starving the Beast
Austerity. Grover Norquist. The merging of investment and commercial banking. A major party's insistence that shifting the nation's tax burden away from "job creators" and onto the poor and middle class is the only way out, despite the fact that tax cuts for the wealthy do nothing at all to spur economic growth.
It reads like a paranoid conspiracy theory. Only it isn't. It's the story of how we came to our current place of deficits, income inequality, and economic instability. And you don't need a degree in economics to understand it. (A plus!)
Interested closet members can read more in this article, written by Tim Dickenson for the November 24, 2011 issue of Rolling Stone. You'll be glad you did.
Then again, maybe you'll just want to flee to Canada.
It reads like a paranoid conspiracy theory. Only it isn't. It's the story of how we came to our current place of deficits, income inequality, and economic instability. And you don't need a degree in economics to understand it. (A plus!)
Interested closet members can read more in this article, written by Tim Dickenson for the November 24, 2011 issue of Rolling Stone. You'll be glad you did.
Then again, maybe you'll just want to flee to Canada.
 | |
| Economist Paul Krugman on economic morality. |
(Click here to view an interactive timeline of the Global Economic Crisis, courtesy of the non-partisan, non-profit Council on Foreign Relations.)
Monday, September 10, 2012
44. "The story of unwavering hope, grounded in unyielding struggle..."
In case you missed our First Lady's speech at the DNC:
Speech Highlights
"Like so many American families, our families weren't asking for much.
...They simply believed in that fundamental American promise that, even if you don't start out with much, if you work hard and do what you're supposed to do, then you should be able to build a decent life for yourself and an even better life for your kids and grandkids.
That's how they raised us. That's what we learned from their example.
We learned about dignity and decency – that how hard you work matters more than how much you make, that helping others means more than just getting ahead yourself.
We learned about honesty and integrity – that the truth matters, that you don't take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules, and success doesn't count unless you earn it fair and square.
We learned about gratitude and humility – that so many people had a hand in our success, from the teachers who inspired us to the janitors who kept our school clean…and we were taught to value everyone's contribution and treat everyone with respect.
.....
Barack knows the American Dream because he's lived it. And he wants everyone in this country to have that same opportunity, no matter who we are, or where we're from, or what we look like, or who we love.
And he believes that when you've worked hard, and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you. You reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed.
.....
... Change is hard, and change is slow, and it never happens all at once.
But eventually we get there, we always do.
We get there because of folks like my Dad, folks like Barack's grandmother, men and women who said to themselves, "I may not have a chance to fulfill my dreams, but maybe my children will, maybe my grandchildren will."
So many of us stand here tonight because of their sacrifice, and longing, and steadfast love. Because time and again, they swallowed their fears and doubts and did what was hard.
So today, when the challenges we face start to seem overwhelming – or even impossible – let us never forget that doing the impossible is the history of this nation. It's who we are as Americans. It's how this country was built.
And if our parents and grandparents could toil and struggle for us, if they could raise beams of steel to the sky, send a man to the moon, and connect the world with the touch of a button, then surely we can keep on sacrificing and building for our own kids and grandkids.
And if so many brave men and women could wear our country's uniform and sacrifice their lives for our most fundamental rights, then surely we can do our part as citizens of this great democracy to exercise those rights, surely, we can get to the polls and make our voices heard on Election Day.
If farmers and blacksmiths could win independence from an empire, if immigrants could leave behind everything they knew for a better life on our shores, if women could be dragged to jail for seeking the vote, if a generation could defeat a depression, and define greatness for all time, if a young preacher could lift us to the mountaintop with his righteous dream, and if proud Americans can be who they are and boldly stand at the altar with who they love, then surely, surely we can give everyone in this country a fair chance at that great American Dream.
Because in the end, more than anything else, that is the story of this country – the story of unwavering hope grounded in unyielding struggle.
...If I truly want to leave a better world for my daughters, and all our sons and daughters, if we want to give all our children a foundation for their dreams and opportunities worthy of their promise, if we want to give them that sense of limitless possibility – that belief that here in America, there is always something better out there if you're willing to work for it -- then we must work like never before. And we must once again come together and stand together for the man we can trust to keep moving this great country forward -- my husband, our President, President Barack Obama."
Speech Highlights
"Like so many American families, our families weren't asking for much.
...They simply believed in that fundamental American promise that, even if you don't start out with much, if you work hard and do what you're supposed to do, then you should be able to build a decent life for yourself and an even better life for your kids and grandkids.
That's how they raised us. That's what we learned from their example.
We learned about dignity and decency – that how hard you work matters more than how much you make, that helping others means more than just getting ahead yourself.
We learned about honesty and integrity – that the truth matters, that you don't take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules, and success doesn't count unless you earn it fair and square.
We learned about gratitude and humility – that so many people had a hand in our success, from the teachers who inspired us to the janitors who kept our school clean…and we were taught to value everyone's contribution and treat everyone with respect.
.....
Barack knows the American Dream because he's lived it. And he wants everyone in this country to have that same opportunity, no matter who we are, or where we're from, or what we look like, or who we love.
And he believes that when you've worked hard, and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you. You reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed.
.....
... Change is hard, and change is slow, and it never happens all at once.
But eventually we get there, we always do.
We get there because of folks like my Dad, folks like Barack's grandmother, men and women who said to themselves, "I may not have a chance to fulfill my dreams, but maybe my children will, maybe my grandchildren will."
So many of us stand here tonight because of their sacrifice, and longing, and steadfast love. Because time and again, they swallowed their fears and doubts and did what was hard.
So today, when the challenges we face start to seem overwhelming – or even impossible – let us never forget that doing the impossible is the history of this nation. It's who we are as Americans. It's how this country was built.
And if our parents and grandparents could toil and struggle for us, if they could raise beams of steel to the sky, send a man to the moon, and connect the world with the touch of a button, then surely we can keep on sacrificing and building for our own kids and grandkids.
And if so many brave men and women could wear our country's uniform and sacrifice their lives for our most fundamental rights, then surely we can do our part as citizens of this great democracy to exercise those rights, surely, we can get to the polls and make our voices heard on Election Day.
If farmers and blacksmiths could win independence from an empire, if immigrants could leave behind everything they knew for a better life on our shores, if women could be dragged to jail for seeking the vote, if a generation could defeat a depression, and define greatness for all time, if a young preacher could lift us to the mountaintop with his righteous dream, and if proud Americans can be who they are and boldly stand at the altar with who they love, then surely, surely we can give everyone in this country a fair chance at that great American Dream.
Because in the end, more than anything else, that is the story of this country – the story of unwavering hope grounded in unyielding struggle.
...If I truly want to leave a better world for my daughters, and all our sons and daughters, if we want to give all our children a foundation for their dreams and opportunities worthy of their promise, if we want to give them that sense of limitless possibility – that belief that here in America, there is always something better out there if you're willing to work for it -- then we must work like never before. And we must once again come together and stand together for the man we can trust to keep moving this great country forward -- my husband, our President, President Barack Obama."
Sunday, September 9, 2012
43. An Atheist's Defense of the 9/11 Cross
(Alternate Title: How to Alienate the Tiny Handful of People Who Still Listen to You*)
The world knows what happened on 9/11. I don't need to recount the tragedy in order for you to remember the hours and days spent staring at the television through teary eyes as you agonized over every word, every image. Maybe you even remember this one.
I do. It was discovered in the rubble two days after the towers fell. One of the few things left standing, albeit barely. As the men and women of the FDNY, NYPD, and other brave responders labored beneath it, those with access reportedly deferred to the steel crossbeams when their burden became too much to bear. When the public could reach it, they adorned it with flowers, photos, and messages for lost loved ones, wreathing it in their hope as well as their heartache. It mattered to them. In more ways than I, as a person separated as much by geography as by ideology, could ever put into words.
Ten years later, the cross was submitted for placement in the 9/11 Memorial Museum. While the move was opposed by the Coalition for Jewish Concerns, the American Atheists organization went above and beyond by responding with a lawsuit. The suit stated, "Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief to require those responsible for the September 11 Memorial and Museum to remove a 20-foot cross from the Memorial and Museum or to provide equal space to memorials from other beliefs. That either the cross be removed from the museum, or symbols representing all religious and nonreligious groups be displayed alongside the cross."
Far from being well-received (as no one thought it would be...), the demand was immediately characterized as a shrieking expression of hatred for the religious. Atheist though I am, I don't hate the cross. I don't hate anything. But, when my haphazardly-donned title is represented on the national stage by a seemingly knee-jerk suit like this one, where the symbol is targeted for bringing honor to some and zero dishonor to anyone, it's easy to understand why people might think I do.
"We're talking about public lands. We're talking about public funds... We're talking about an eighteen-foot memorial," said American Atheists president David Silverman, who believes the cross is an endorsement of Christianity by the government, in violation of the separation of church and state. "It does not represent Jews, Muslims, Mormons, or atheists."
I don't disagree. In fact, were this any other suit, where the object in question had been planned, contracted, and displayed with the intent to memorialize some to the exclusion of others, this post would read very differently. But in this? Let them have it.
No one carved this cross. No one paid for it, and no one picked up a welding torch under the belief that their religion was the only one worthy of recognition. This was a leftover remnant from a building swallowed by terror. It was a real thing that brought real comfort to many.
And I want them to be comforted.
I want the pain of my fellow Americans -- responders, survivors, and family members who underwent an appalling experience -- to be alleviated in any way that it can. So let them bless the tower's skeleton. Let them see in it a joy that is uniquely theirs. Let them lean on it and use it to shoulder weight of their grief so that they might move forward. I may not share in it. I may not understand it. But I can honor these steel beams for doing what I could not as I sat on the other side of the country, staring at the television through teary eyes. It gave them an outlet. It gave them peace.
Let them have it.
Above and beyond anything, I believe in a balance between reason and compassion. According to Silverman, “What we seek is any remedy that honors everyone equally, be they Christian, Muslim, Jew, or atheist. This can either be done with a totally neutral memorial that concentrates on the tragedy and not religion, or one that allows everyone to put up a display of equal size and prominence. In the latter case, we have offered to pay for a display ourselves. If everyone is provided equal treatment, we will drop our lawsuit because fair is fair.” Under this premise, the suit may indeed be reasonable, but it defies compassion. If I'd the power, I would ask them to choose another cause, on another battlefield, one that desperately needs their heartfelt fervor, as well as their funds. I would ask them to give blood, or donate to the Michael Lynch Memorial Foundation. I would ask them to preserve the integrity of reasonableness and decency alike. Because, as much as I respect the struggle to bring equality to everyone whose contributions have been silenced or ignored by religion, in this case, I can't help but feel that no one stopped to remind themselves of the simplest of adages:
It takes nothing away from you to be kind.
*This is me, crossing my fingers, hoping I'm wrong!
The world knows what happened on 9/11. I don't need to recount the tragedy in order for you to remember the hours and days spent staring at the television through teary eyes as you agonized over every word, every image. Maybe you even remember this one.
Ten years later, the cross was submitted for placement in the 9/11 Memorial Museum. While the move was opposed by the Coalition for Jewish Concerns, the American Atheists organization went above and beyond by responding with a lawsuit. The suit stated, "Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief to require those responsible for the September 11 Memorial and Museum to remove a 20-foot cross from the Memorial and Museum or to provide equal space to memorials from other beliefs. That either the cross be removed from the museum, or symbols representing all religious and nonreligious groups be displayed alongside the cross."
Far from being well-received (as no one thought it would be...), the demand was immediately characterized as a shrieking expression of hatred for the religious. Atheist though I am, I don't hate the cross. I don't hate anything. But, when my haphazardly-donned title is represented on the national stage by a seemingly knee-jerk suit like this one, where the symbol is targeted for bringing honor to some and zero dishonor to anyone, it's easy to understand why people might think I do.
"We're talking about public lands. We're talking about public funds... We're talking about an eighteen-foot memorial," said American Atheists president David Silverman, who believes the cross is an endorsement of Christianity by the government, in violation of the separation of church and state. "It does not represent Jews, Muslims, Mormons, or atheists."
I don't disagree. In fact, were this any other suit, where the object in question had been planned, contracted, and displayed with the intent to memorialize some to the exclusion of others, this post would read very differently. But in this? Let them have it.
No one carved this cross. No one paid for it, and no one picked up a welding torch under the belief that their religion was the only one worthy of recognition. This was a leftover remnant from a building swallowed by terror. It was a real thing that brought real comfort to many.
And I want them to be comforted.
I want the pain of my fellow Americans -- responders, survivors, and family members who underwent an appalling experience -- to be alleviated in any way that it can. So let them bless the tower's skeleton. Let them see in it a joy that is uniquely theirs. Let them lean on it and use it to shoulder weight of their grief so that they might move forward. I may not share in it. I may not understand it. But I can honor these steel beams for doing what I could not as I sat on the other side of the country, staring at the television through teary eyes. It gave them an outlet. It gave them peace.
Let them have it.
Above and beyond anything, I believe in a balance between reason and compassion. According to Silverman, “What we seek is any remedy that honors everyone equally, be they Christian, Muslim, Jew, or atheist. This can either be done with a totally neutral memorial that concentrates on the tragedy and not religion, or one that allows everyone to put up a display of equal size and prominence. In the latter case, we have offered to pay for a display ourselves. If everyone is provided equal treatment, we will drop our lawsuit because fair is fair.” Under this premise, the suit may indeed be reasonable, but it defies compassion. If I'd the power, I would ask them to choose another cause, on another battlefield, one that desperately needs their heartfelt fervor, as well as their funds. I would ask them to give blood, or donate to the Michael Lynch Memorial Foundation. I would ask them to preserve the integrity of reasonableness and decency alike. Because, as much as I respect the struggle to bring equality to everyone whose contributions have been silenced or ignored by religion, in this case, I can't help but feel that no one stopped to remind themselves of the simplest of adages:
It takes nothing away from you to be kind.
*This is me, crossing my fingers, hoping I'm wrong!
Sunday, May 20, 2012
42. Geeks run the world. Religion should update its marketing strategy.
You know the problem with Jesus? He's Galilean. If he were Gallifreyan, I'd be more inclined to worship him.
That is all.
That is all.
Monday, March 26, 2012
41. This is what "militant atheism" sounds like.
Brace yourself and watch with caution. This is some pretty terrifying stuff. Especially the parts about "understanding viewpoints" and "taking care of each other in times of need." Can't you just feel the moral fabric of society crumbling away as he talks about loving one another? This is evil, folks. Pure, unadulterated evil...
(Don't tell anyone... but I also believe that every tool houses a hammer. Is that an atheist thing, or just a geek thing?)
(Don't tell anyone... but I also believe that every tool houses a hammer. Is that an atheist thing, or just a geek thing?)
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
40. Santorum and Other (Very) Dirty Words
*** Let the reader beware: While I believe strongly in the courtesy of honest discourse and in making statements that remain open to the conversation, in writing this post I found it difficult to be remotely lenient in my outrage, or tolerant of the subject. Know in advance that the Closet's typical snarky jabs and lighthearted quips were left on the cutting room floor on this one. Because the writer of this blog is a woman. And she pays attention. Ergo, she is VERY pissed off. ***
It's more than rare for me to vote republican in any election. Believe it or not, though, it has happened. Small town races are a surprising haven for old-school members of the Grand Old Party who genuinely believe in the core tenets of personal liberty, low taxes, and limited government. These people do not believe that money equals speech. They have no national aspirations, no desire to impose their religious agendas, world views, or other private musings on their neighbors. They happily recognize the importance of a separation of church and state, because your business is none of theirs.
A glance at today's political playing field will tell you that these people are a dying breed. In fact, if the general air of this election is to be believed, the GOP clown car has become so crowded with absurdity that a candidate's only method of owning the spotlight is to out-crazy the veritably insane. In watching this atrocity unfold, I've gone from appalled to amused and back again with such frequency that the mere idea of watching another debate, political ad, or "you'll never guess what they're saying now" headline is enough to make me dizzy. Like most of you, I breathed a sigh of relief when Bachmann and Perry were left by the side of the trail, only to realize that Santorum, Romney, and Gingrich were still riding it. They each promised campaigns focused on the economy, restoring lost jobs, and protecting the middle class from impending extinction. Now I suppose it is possible that, along the way, they simply became disoriented and found themselves stumbling into the uteri of America's stickless second class by accident. It seems rather more likely, however, that these would-be moral dictators lifted their heads from the fray long enough to realize their party's economic track record was damned terrible on a favorable day, and that the only way to bend a voting ear was to change the rhetoric to something involving a bit more bullshit and a little less math. So it was with complete disregard for the sparse value of alliteration that they turned to waging a war on women.
First target, Planned Parenthood. (Because, c'mon... parenthood isn't something folks have any business planning for.) Perhaps sensing a dearth of enthusiasm, party leaders pressed hard on the anti-choice leanings of their conservative base in the hopes of starting something akin to a fire in the interest for their collective campaigns. Planned Parenthood, they said, is a revolving door for the sexually depraved seeking weekly abortive procedures. And they're using your tax dollars to do it. *Cue incensed torch lighting.*
Never mind the pesky fact that this organization is a vital source of women's healthcare. Or that abortive procedures make up less than 4% of their services. It is naturally the duty of any pro-life individual to protest this nilly-willy dispersal of life-saving cancer screenings, life-saving STD treatments, and pregnancy-preventing contraception (the most effective means of ensuring low abortion rates) in order to prove how pro-life they really are. Now, this argument is nothing new. But it is a disturbing reflection of republican intensity when their political motives place such insidious and negative pressure on private, pro-women organizations like the Susan G. Komen Foundation -- whose nonprofit efforts to defeat breast cancer were a renowned and hopeful beacon to millions -- that they deprive the very women they claim to serve of desperately-needed funding.
Second target, Virginians. In a move that leaves me wondering whether they might have mistaken the State's name for a premarital description of its inhabitants, conservatives passed a measure that would require women to undergo an ultrasound before abortive procedures could be considered. Since most unwanted pregnancies are terminated in the first few weeks, that
ultrasound would have to be performed trans-vaginally... (To quote Greg Behrendt, "I'm gonna say that again because I feel you're not takin' the journey with me.") Trans. Vaginally. What these lawmakers are saying is not simply that women are incapable of making their own decisions where reproductive matters are concerned, but that they should, as a standard matter of public procedure, consent to having a sterile probe pointlessly shoved into the most intimate parts of their bodies in order for their medical choices to even be deemed worthy of standing. And if they don't consent? Well then, tough cookies. Maybe they don't understand that many women find these procedures so mentally and physically damaging that they must be sedated beforehand and heavily medicated afterward. Maybe they just don't care. Sadly, the latter seems most likely. Because the most degrading fact in all of this is that these embarrassing examples of the twenty-first century are standing between women and their doctors to say that they must endure an unnecessary, invasive, humiliating, and often-painful procedure -- not as a "moral imperative" -- but as a political ploy to generate votes from ill-informed extremists. I have difficulty even wrapping my mind around the level of disregard this shows for women's health, women's privacy, and women's ability to trust in the safety and security of their own bodies.
To the few in support of this mandate, to those who believe that life begins at conception and that failure to recognize this is more heinous than forcible penetration, to those who think women who become pregnant as a result of rape should "accept the gift that God has given them" (Rick Santorum) and graciously surrender their reproductive rights to their attackers by raising their unsolicited children, I have one thing to say....
This is Lina Medina. At the time this photo was taken, Lina was five years old and seven months pregnant. She is only one of hundreds of children under the age of 10 (see HERE for a full list of documented cases) who've been forced to carry pregnancies to term in the last century. This is not a recent phenomenon, and this is not an isolated incident. THIS is the result of an anti-choice mindset. THIS is what it looks like when women's health is undervalued, subverted, and otherwise ignored by those who've sworn to safeguard the well-being of those without a voice. THIS is suffering at its most unethical. Anyone who can honestly look at this child and say that legal abortion is more of an abomination than the nine months of pain, confusion, and body distortion that she was forced to experience DOES NOT derive their morals from any source worth noting.
Moving on.
For their third target, which seems inappropriately comical by comparison, the GOP turned to their current standby, healthcare reform. This time citing oppression of religious freedom when church-affiliated institutions like hospitals and universities were required to provide coverage for women's services. Michelle Bachmann seized on this opportunity to resurface, claiming that the GOP's recent obsession with regulating the gentler sex is not a sign that those fine fellows at the top are running on a rich, white slogan of inexcusable misogyny, it's merely a symptom of their outrage over Obamacare. I'll fight the urge to titter 'liar, liar, pants on fire' and instead applaud them for taking their frustrations out on women, as any secure man would naturally do. As for the core complaint, far be it for anyone to expect equality from a religious organization, even where insurance is concerned. But the hypocrisy of denying reproductive care to women while happily dispersing viagra and vasectomies can only be topped by stacking your discussion panel on women's health solely with abstinent men and barring any actual women from testifying.
Oh wait, they did that. (Yes, really.)
And all of this before the three-ring circus jumped the shark. For their fourth and most intellectually-defying play, the GOP unleashed Santorum (hell yes, you should Google it) on the world, armed and ready for the fight against America's greatest enemy... birth control.
*As an aside to the candidate in question...* Ahem. Hey, Rick? Can I call you 'Rick?' Look, man, I get that you're stupidly devoted to an archaic religion that bills sex as an awful, scary thing - be it premarital, homosexual, masturbatory, inter-species, or the consensual sort that doesn't result in procreation. (Did I get them all? 'Cause your faith seems to have a LOT to say about sex. Seriously, it seems downright obsessed with it.) But here's the thing, Rick: having a personal belief that my business is somehow any of your business doesn't actually make my business any of your business. As many as 1 in 6 women taking birth control medications are doing so to treat non-related issues. Many, like my sister, use oral contraceptives to combat polycystic ovarian syndrome. Still others use it to treat premenstrual dysphoric disorder, or to regulate erratic cycles. Some women take it because, hell, it keeps their skin clear. And NONE of these women should, or ever will, have to answer to YOU.
It is an irony of the most degrading sort that a party whose primary complaints against the current administration have cited efforts to "insert government into our private medical decisions" are now championing an all-out war against women by demanding that government insert itself into their private medical decisions.
I've no doubt that many will dismiss this post as the ramblings of an angry feminist. They won't be entirely wrong. I am angry, as you should be. And I am a feminist. As you should be.
Because what those people do not understand is that feminism is not a dirty word.
Feminism is not an ideology of rage, or a euphemism for jilted chicks with nothing better to do.
Feminism is not the demand that everyone who has a penis apologize immediately and at length to everyone who doesn't.
Feminism IS the recognition that women are people -- just like 100-cell zygotes and heartless corporations. Funny that they have the concern and protection of the republican party, where we do not.
To speak out against these, and other atrocious examples of the republican war on women, visit MoveOn.org or join the National Protest Against the War on Women on Facebook to add your name to the list of people demanding equality.
It's more than rare for me to vote republican in any election. Believe it or not, though, it has happened. Small town races are a surprising haven for old-school members of the Grand Old Party who genuinely believe in the core tenets of personal liberty, low taxes, and limited government. These people do not believe that money equals speech. They have no national aspirations, no desire to impose their religious agendas, world views, or other private musings on their neighbors. They happily recognize the importance of a separation of church and state, because your business is none of theirs.
A glance at today's political playing field will tell you that these people are a dying breed. In fact, if the general air of this election is to be believed, the GOP clown car has become so crowded with absurdity that a candidate's only method of owning the spotlight is to out-crazy the veritably insane. In watching this atrocity unfold, I've gone from appalled to amused and back again with such frequency that the mere idea of watching another debate, political ad, or "you'll never guess what they're saying now" headline is enough to make me dizzy. Like most of you, I breathed a sigh of relief when Bachmann and Perry were left by the side of the trail, only to realize that Santorum, Romney, and Gingrich were still riding it. They each promised campaigns focused on the economy, restoring lost jobs, and protecting the middle class from impending extinction. Now I suppose it is possible that, along the way, they simply became disoriented and found themselves stumbling into the uteri of America's stickless second class by accident. It seems rather more likely, however, that these would-be moral dictators lifted their heads from the fray long enough to realize their party's economic track record was damned terrible on a favorable day, and that the only way to bend a voting ear was to change the rhetoric to something involving a bit more bullshit and a little less math. So it was with complete disregard for the sparse value of alliteration that they turned to waging a war on women.
First target, Planned Parenthood. (Because, c'mon... parenthood isn't something folks have any business planning for.) Perhaps sensing a dearth of enthusiasm, party leaders pressed hard on the anti-choice leanings of their conservative base in the hopes of starting something akin to a fire in the interest for their collective campaigns. Planned Parenthood, they said, is a revolving door for the sexually depraved seeking weekly abortive procedures. And they're using your tax dollars to do it. *Cue incensed torch lighting.*
Never mind the pesky fact that this organization is a vital source of women's healthcare. Or that abortive procedures make up less than 4% of their services. It is naturally the duty of any pro-life individual to protest this nilly-willy dispersal of life-saving cancer screenings, life-saving STD treatments, and pregnancy-preventing contraception (the most effective means of ensuring low abortion rates) in order to prove how pro-life they really are. Now, this argument is nothing new. But it is a disturbing reflection of republican intensity when their political motives place such insidious and negative pressure on private, pro-women organizations like the Susan G. Komen Foundation -- whose nonprofit efforts to defeat breast cancer were a renowned and hopeful beacon to millions -- that they deprive the very women they claim to serve of desperately-needed funding.
Second target, Virginians. In a move that leaves me wondering whether they might have mistaken the State's name for a premarital description of its inhabitants, conservatives passed a measure that would require women to undergo an ultrasound before abortive procedures could be considered. Since most unwanted pregnancies are terminated in the first few weeks, that
ultrasound would have to be performed trans-vaginally... (To quote Greg Behrendt, "I'm gonna say that again because I feel you're not takin' the journey with me.") Trans. Vaginally. What these lawmakers are saying is not simply that women are incapable of making their own decisions where reproductive matters are concerned, but that they should, as a standard matter of public procedure, consent to having a sterile probe pointlessly shoved into the most intimate parts of their bodies in order for their medical choices to even be deemed worthy of standing. And if they don't consent? Well then, tough cookies. Maybe they don't understand that many women find these procedures so mentally and physically damaging that they must be sedated beforehand and heavily medicated afterward. Maybe they just don't care. Sadly, the latter seems most likely. Because the most degrading fact in all of this is that these embarrassing examples of the twenty-first century are standing between women and their doctors to say that they must endure an unnecessary, invasive, humiliating, and often-painful procedure -- not as a "moral imperative" -- but as a political ploy to generate votes from ill-informed extremists. I have difficulty even wrapping my mind around the level of disregard this shows for women's health, women's privacy, and women's ability to trust in the safety and security of their own bodies.To the few in support of this mandate, to those who believe that life begins at conception and that failure to recognize this is more heinous than forcible penetration, to those who think women who become pregnant as a result of rape should "accept the gift that God has given them" (Rick Santorum) and graciously surrender their reproductive rights to their attackers by raising their unsolicited children, I have one thing to say....
This is Lina Medina. At the time this photo was taken, Lina was five years old and seven months pregnant. She is only one of hundreds of children under the age of 10 (see HERE for a full list of documented cases) who've been forced to carry pregnancies to term in the last century. This is not a recent phenomenon, and this is not an isolated incident. THIS is the result of an anti-choice mindset. THIS is what it looks like when women's health is undervalued, subverted, and otherwise ignored by those who've sworn to safeguard the well-being of those without a voice. THIS is suffering at its most unethical. Anyone who can honestly look at this child and say that legal abortion is more of an abomination than the nine months of pain, confusion, and body distortion that she was forced to experience DOES NOT derive their morals from any source worth noting.Moving on.
For their third target, which seems inappropriately comical by comparison, the GOP turned to their current standby, healthcare reform. This time citing oppression of religious freedom when church-affiliated institutions like hospitals and universities were required to provide coverage for women's services. Michelle Bachmann seized on this opportunity to resurface, claiming that the GOP's recent obsession with regulating the gentler sex is not a sign that those fine fellows at the top are running on a rich, white slogan of inexcusable misogyny, it's merely a symptom of their outrage over Obamacare. I'll fight the urge to titter 'liar, liar, pants on fire' and instead applaud them for taking their frustrations out on women, as any secure man would naturally do. As for the core complaint, far be it for anyone to expect equality from a religious organization, even where insurance is concerned. But the hypocrisy of denying reproductive care to women while happily dispersing viagra and vasectomies can only be topped by stacking your discussion panel on women's health solely with abstinent men and barring any actual women from testifying.
Oh wait, they did that. (Yes, really.)
And all of this before the three-ring circus jumped the shark. For their fourth and most intellectually-defying play, the GOP unleashed Santorum (hell yes, you should Google it) on the world, armed and ready for the fight against America's greatest enemy... birth control.
*As an aside to the candidate in question...* Ahem. Hey, Rick? Can I call you 'Rick?' Look, man, I get that you're stupidly devoted to an archaic religion that bills sex as an awful, scary thing - be it premarital, homosexual, masturbatory, inter-species, or the consensual sort that doesn't result in procreation. (Did I get them all? 'Cause your faith seems to have a LOT to say about sex. Seriously, it seems downright obsessed with it.) But here's the thing, Rick: having a personal belief that my business is somehow any of your business doesn't actually make my business any of your business. As many as 1 in 6 women taking birth control medications are doing so to treat non-related issues. Many, like my sister, use oral contraceptives to combat polycystic ovarian syndrome. Still others use it to treat premenstrual dysphoric disorder, or to regulate erratic cycles. Some women take it because, hell, it keeps their skin clear. And NONE of these women should, or ever will, have to answer to YOU.
It is an irony of the most degrading sort that a party whose primary complaints against the current administration have cited efforts to "insert government into our private medical decisions" are now championing an all-out war against women by demanding that government insert itself into their private medical decisions.
I've no doubt that many will dismiss this post as the ramblings of an angry feminist. They won't be entirely wrong. I am angry, as you should be. And I am a feminist. As you should be.
Because what those people do not understand is that feminism is not a dirty word.
Feminism is not an ideology of rage, or a euphemism for jilted chicks with nothing better to do.
Feminism is not the demand that everyone who has a penis apologize immediately and at length to everyone who doesn't.
Feminism IS the recognition that women are people -- just like 100-cell zygotes and heartless corporations. Funny that they have the concern and protection of the republican party, where we do not.
To speak out against these, and other atrocious examples of the republican war on women, visit MoveOn.org or join the National Protest Against the War on Women on Facebook to add your name to the list of people demanding equality.
Open Petitions
100,000 Strong Against the Republican War on Women
Stop the War on Women
Credo Action for Planned Parenthood
Change. Org (Santorum's Opposition to a Female President)
Change. Org (Virginia's Forced Penetration Mandate)
SignOn (Virginia's Personhood Bill)
The Petition Site (Santorum's Attack on Birth Control)
"My vagina, it's universal,
Like a penis, but reversible.
C'mon in, the water's fine!
After all,
It's not MY vagina -- it's OUR vagina!"
~ Storm Large, 8 Miles Wide ~
100,000 Strong Against the Republican War on Women
Stop the War on Women
Credo Action for Planned Parenthood
Change. Org (Santorum's Opposition to a Female President)
Change. Org (Virginia's Forced Penetration Mandate)
SignOn (Virginia's Personhood Bill)
The Petition Site (Santorum's Attack on Birth Control)
"My vagina, it's universal,
Like a penis, but reversible.
C'mon in, the water's fine!
After all,
It's not MY vagina -- it's OUR vagina!"
~ Storm Large, 8 Miles Wide ~
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