Should women go to jail? “I never really thought about that.” I’ve been saying this all along: Once abortion opponents understand that you can’t have a different legal standard for women who have abortions, they will lose their taste for making it a crime.
No, really. I got a coupon thingie in my email this morning:
The princesses will start each day with a one-hour dance class followed by princess story time, a snack and tea party, princess arts and crafts, and princess dress-up games.
Because princesses sit quietly and try on clothes! Oy. I’d love to see what a young girl who didn’t constantly have this stuff programmed into her system from the time she could walk actually wanted to do for fun.
I have nothing against dress-up and fantasy play. But this is the very opposite. Instead of young girls learning to expand their imagination, it’s all within the structure of whatever Disney is peddling. (I’m assuming this is the same as the Disney World princess camp.)
I used to do the booking at a local coffeehouse, and this place had a large trunk filled with costumes purchased from MGM, when it went out of business. Every kid who came in the place, boy or girl, gravitated to it immediately (including most of the grownups). There were all kinds of crazy scarfs and hats, it was great fun.
These little girls may have “fun” at princess camp, but it ain’t creative. It’s learning to be a good little Disney princess-consumer clone.
End of rant!
“The ultimate insult to male authority.” Oh, yeah. There’s something to that.
I’ve always found it interesting that telling a man you intend to get an abortion often will incite him to violence (even though, statistically, your relationship -if there is one – is unlikely to last and his financial and emotional support to his child, even less so). How else to explain that, other than fury that you’re rejecting his seed?
Coincidentally, the incidence of domestic violence also goes ‘way up during pregnancy, with the pregnant belly frequently the target of punches and kicks. (Although I do know one person who said she loved being pregnant because it was the only time her husband didn’t hit her.)
What murky minds we all have.
Bad news! A lady was raped. Good news! She went to the hospital, was cared for, and was given two birth control pills to prevent pregnancy. Bad news! The lady was arrested by the Tampa PD on a warrant when filing her police report. Good news! Er, hmmm. Bad news! Prison employee Michele Spinelli refused to give the lady her second pill, on “religious grounds.” Good news! The lady did not get pregnant anyway. Bad news! We will just repeat that again: Prison employee Michele Spinelli refused to give the lady her second pill, on “religious grounds.”
Good news! A US District Court judge says the lady can indeed sue Spinelli. Bad news! But not the sheriff who was supposed to oversee the jail. Good news! Florida has a “conscience clause” stating that any pharmacist or doctor cannot be held liable for refusing to fork over your slut pills. Oh wait, that is bad news. This story kind of sucks! Bad news! Even the judge allowing the lawsuit to go forward refers to the morning after pill as “terminating a pregnancy” instead of “keeping a pregnancy from occurring.” Bad news! Just like they took over the schoolboards in the ’80s, the Christian Right has had a long-term goal of practically preventing women from getting birth control by stacking the pharmaceutical colleges and getting conscience clauses passed throughout the nation. Bad news! Some counties only have one pharmacist, and she is Michele Spinelli.
Picture from Eclectablog.
You remember this, right?
A male Republican House leader in Michigan silenced two female Democratic state legislators on Thursday after the pair tried to advance a measure that would have reduced access to vasectomies.
While discussing a bill that would erode the availability of abortion, Reps. Barb Byrum and Lisa Brown introduced an amendment to apply the same regulations to vasectomies that GOP lawmakers wanted to add to abortion services.
The debate grew heated, as Republicans sought to gravel down the women. Byrum was not permitted to speak in favor of the measure and Brown was repeatedly interrupted. “I’m flattered that you’re all so interested in my vagina, but no means no,” she said. The next day both were silenced.
Well, quite a few people turned out last night on the front steps of the Michigan Capitol to listen to a reading of “The Vagina Monologues” – about 5000 or so.
The crowd was welcomed by state Sen. Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, who said “Welcome to all of you and your lady parts!”
Austin Muir, 21, of Lapeer, came bearing a sign that said “Trust Women,” and to show support for the women in his life, including his mother, who is a midwife.
“It’s ridiculous what’s going on here,” he said.
Former state Rep. Maxine Berman, D-West Bloomfield, doesn’t participate in too many political events any more. “But last week just put me over the top.”
Lisa Brown is Berman’s representative, “And if she has no voice, than neither do I,” she said.
The event was a lesson in creative signage. Angela Ash, 25, of Grand Rapids, held aloft “Keep Your Mitts off my bitts,” While Sherry Alef, 58, of Algonac, carried a sign that proclaimed: “Angry white woman. Don’t shush me.”
Pasted on her backside was another warning: “this slut votes.”
In case you were wondering why there were so many vagina lines on Twitter tonight, it’s because of this stupid story:
Michigan state Rep. Lisa Brown was banned from speaking on the floor of the State House today after she used the word “vagina” in a speech Wednesday, according to the Detroit News.
Concluding her remarks about an abortion regulation bill Wednesday, Brown said: “Finally, Mr. Speaker, I’m flattered that you’re all so interested in my vagina, but ‘no’ means ‘no.’”
House Republicans flipped out, and House Speaker James Bolger announced in a statement that Brown would not be recognized to speak on the floor because of her “lack of decorum.”
“What she said was offensive,” Republican state Rep. Mike Callton told the Detroit News. “It was so offensive, I don’t even want to say it in front of women. I would not say that in mixed company.”
But Brown lashed back, defending her speech in a last-minute press conference today.
“If I can’t say the word vagina, why are we legislating vaginas?” she said. ““I’m outraged. I’m outraged that this legislative body not only wants to dictate what women can do, but what we can say.”
So many Catholics have told me how angry they are at the Vatican for coming down on nuns for the work they do with the poor — instead of speaking out against abortions. Now some of those social-justice nuns will take to the highways to speak out against Paul Ryan’s unChristian budget proposals:
Washington (CNN) – American nuns are taking their opposition of the proposed Paul Ryan budget to the American people and embarking on a bus tour through some of America’s most politically important states.
NETWORK, a group founded by 47 Catholic sisters that speaks out on social justice issues in particular, will be hitting states like Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia in order to reveal “how federal budget cuts proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan, (R-WI), and passed by the House of Representatives will hurt struggling families in these states,” a release by the group reads.
In interviews after unveiling his budget, Ryan said that he applied his view of Catholic social teaching in his budget proposal, a statement that Sister Simone Campbell, the executive director of NETWORK, said co-opted sacred Catholic teachings.
“I think he was so direct in draping himself in the mantle of Catholic social teaching,” Campbell said. “He took the words but he took none of the meaning in the forming of the budget.”
Campbell continued: “It is one thing to have political differences, but to try to hide a budget that will devastate people and claim that it is supported by your faith. It is unacceptable. He is wrong and he needs to be told so.”
Ryan’s $3.53 trillion dollar budget doubles down on past proposals Republicans have made to overhaul Medicare and other government programs that are seen as politically sensitive. While the budget has little chance to become law, it draws a distinct contrast with Democratic views on spending and will loom large in the 2012 race for the presidency.
Ryan was given an opportunity to respond to Catholics who have questioned his budget in a speech at Georgetown University, the oldest Catholic university in the country.
“Of course, there can be differences among faithful Catholics on this. The work I do, as a Catholic holding office, conforms to the social doctrine as best I can make of it,” said Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican. “What I have to say about the social doctrine of the church is from the viewpoint of a Catholic in politics applying my understanding of the problems of the day.”
Ryan’s lying, as some Catholic theologians have already pointed out.
The Georgetown speech also gave Catholic opponents an opportunity to confront Ryan with their disapproval. As Ryan delivered the remarks, he came face-to-face with protesters who unveiled a banner that read “Stop the War on the Poor.” Outside the event, Catholics United protested the event. A little over a dozen people stood outside Healy Hall, where the speech took place, and held a sign the read, “WERE YOU THERE WHEN THEY CRUCIFIED THE POOR?”
Recent Comments