Tag Archives: women

House Repubs Shoot Down Violence Against Women Act

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Terry| 1 Comment

The Violence Against Women Act has been in effect since 1994.  It provides government funding for programs to combat domestic violence, including support for domestic violence victims.  The Senate passed a reauthorization of the VAWA back in April.  The House?  They first tried watering the Senate bill down so much that Senate balked and Obama said he’d veto the House version.  Since the House version didn’t pan out the House has chosen to simply ignore it, and not address the issue again in 2012.  As a result, for the first time in 18 years, the VAWA hasn’t been reauthorized.  Government funding for domestic violence programs is now set to sharply decline.

Unbelievable.  The fiscal cliff debacle was just the tip of the iceberg for the House GOP.  Over 2 months after Hurricane Sandy, and the House GOP was still refusing to bring up disaster relief…until Chris Christie and others blasted the incompetence of the GOP today.  JUST prior to the fiscal cliff vote, the GOP brought up a bill to freeze Government salaries for another year (this would be 3 years now with a pay freeze)…an incredibly transparent play to cover their asses for their embarrassing handling of the fiscal cliff.  Agricultural interests and many responsible politicians (are there any left?) are up in arms over the handling (or lack thereof) of the farm bill by the House GOP.

So…any confidence that the House GOP will be sensible in 2 months, when it’s time to address the sequestration delay, the debt limit, and funding government for the rest of the year?  Unbelievable…

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Romney – Obama won because he offered “Gifts”

Posted on November 14, 2012 by Terry| 1 Comment
Romney Snake Tongue

Forget the "soft", "human" side of Romney that some stories have tried to talk about since the election. With Romney's comments today, once again the REAL Romney is revealed, and it's not a pretty picture.

There have been a few stories lately about the “misunderstood” side of Mitt Romney, the “human” side.  Even Jason Sudeikis, the Saturday Night Live member, appeared on the Daily Show last night, and talked about the human side of Romney, how he’s somehow gotten an unfair shake from the media who have focused on the cold, hard, businessman version of Romney.  I never felt much sympathy or believed in the “caring, human” side of the man.  It was pretty damned obvious from his 47% comment what he really thought of most Americans, and it was pretty damned obvious from his business dealings how he treated people (Remember “I like to fire people”?)

After today, there will likely be VERY few people who ever talk about Romney’s “soft” side.  On Wednesday, Romney had a conference call with campaign donors, and offered his excuses for the Obama win.  According to Romney today, Obama won because he offered “extraordinary financial gifts” to Blacks, Hispanics, women, and the poor.  In other words, according to Romney, the reason Obama won is because he bribed all us poor lazy saps who just want the government to take care of them.

Bill O’Reilly was the first to go down this road, when late on election day, after Obama had been announced the winner, O’Reilly blamed the Romney loss on people who want “stuff” from the government.  God knows you see the same ridiculous statement from many of the completely deluded Republican voting base as well, where they ONLY view government as a mechanism to take THEIR money and give it to a bunch of lazy saps who don’t want to work for a living.

It’s one thing for a right-wing talking head like O’Reilly to make such a stupid statement.  Given the complete ignorance of most of the Republican base, it’s not unexpected to hear them make stupid comments like this.  But for the freakin’ PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE from the Republican party to use this as an excuse for the loss?

Disgusting. You know why you lost, Republicans?  BECAUSE YOU DON’T GIVE A DAMN about PEOPLE.  I think I’m a rather typical Democrat.  I don’t need a government handout.  I have a good job.  I don’t need government assistance.  However, I am glad to help PROVIDE assistance to those who DO need help.  LIBERALS CARE about their fellow man, we care about the future of our planet, and THOSE are the core reasons why we vote Democratic.

Repubs, you can keep focusing on the almighty dollar, about greed, about the acquisition of personal wealth. It will certainly get you a large number of votes.  But until you understand WHY people vote Democratic, you’re doomed to continue losing the big races.

Posted in Culture Wars, Politics

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Amazon – “Binder” for sale

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Terry| Leave a comment

This is hilarious…a “binder” for sale on Amazon…

Amazon “Binder” for women

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Who cares about “Binders”?

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Terry| 1 Comment

I can’t believe I’m doing this, but…I’m going to partially defend Mitt Romney, regarding his “binder” comment that seemingly took over Twitter and half the blogs in the universe last night.  I say “partially” defend Romney, because as this opinion piece notes, his awkward use of the term did convey how out of touch he seems to be.  To me the use of the term shows what he thinks of employees, of workers….he thinks of them as a commodity, something to be used as a tool. 

However…is the media so unimaginative, so unable to talk about the substance of the debate, that seemingly 3/4ths of all stories today are focused on “Binders”? I had the same problem with the Biden debate.  For 3 days after the debate, most of the stories weren’t on the substance of the debate itself, they were about “Smiling Joe” or “Laughing Joe”, discussing not what Biden said during the debate, but instead focusing on his demeanor.

For as out-of-touch and awkward that Romney’s “binder” comment was…it was one phrase, one word in the debate. He was obviously trying to personalize his response to the question about women’s pay equality, was obviously ad-libbing something that he didn’t have a prepared answer for, and he ended up saying something rather awkward.  Who cares?  Who cares about how much Joe Biden smiled during his debate?

It would be nice to have more of a focus on the substance of these debates.  But in this “twitter” world, where debate “success” seemed to be measured by how blogs and tweets react to a debate, that’s too much to ask. People are too used to “news” being delivered to them in concise little sound bites, so the entire debate gets summed up by “Binder”, just as the whole VP debate evidently could be summed up by “Laughing Joe”.

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Hairy Old White Men Strike Again

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Terry| 4 Comments
Hairy Old White Men

Hairy old white men strike again, voting against a bill that would improve women's pay equality in comparison to men.

A picture is worth a thousand words.  In this picture, Senate Republicans are explaining why they refused to vote for a bill aimed to improve pay equality between men and women.

And what is it you note about this picture?  Ah yes, that’s right…THEY’RE ALL HAIRY OLD WHITE MEN!!! (Again…a phrase coined by my wife).  In another example of how COMPLETELY out of touch Republicans are, not only did every single Republican vote against this bill, but the cadre of Senators they chose to come out and speak to the press about it are all HAIRY OLD WHITE MEN. 

The not quite as “old” Hairy White Man in the back is our own beloved Senator John Thune from South Dakota.  Or, as I like to refer to him….”Worthless Piece of Shit Thune“.  This is the same bold, independent thinker who responded with “I can’t vote for that!  I’m a Republican!!” when my wife and I met with him to talk about a stem cell research bill up before the Senate (research that could help my son with Type 1 diabetes).   PERFECT photo of what Thune is ALL about…standing in the background, hanging on every word that his older HAIRY OLD WHITE MAN colleagues are saying, so he can repeat the same exact words later.  I laugh whenever I hear the man mentioned as a possible VP candidate.  My GOD, has America become SO pathetic that a man like him is even MENTIONED for something like that?

Thune may not be “old”, but he definitely qualifies as a HAIRY OLD WHITE MAN nonetheless.  To qualify, you must:

1) Lack any kind of independent thought, always blindly voting the Republican party line.

2) ALWAYS vote against ANY bill that attempts to improve rights or living standards for any one who is NOT 1) white 2) a man, or 3) in the richest 1% of all Americans.

3) Be a rather repugnant human being overall, someone you’d hope to god your daughters wouldn’t ever marry.

In other words…you just have to simply be like seemingly 99% of Republican men nowadays.  I HEAR there are supposedly a few Republican men who aren’t HAIRY OLD WHITE MEN, but I have yet to find one.  As a birder, I’m still hopeful that birds such as the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, Bachmann’s Warbler, or Eskimo Curlew may be hanging on somewhere and aren’t extinct. 

I’m starting to feel the same way about Republicans.  Are there ANY of the supposed “Compassionate Conservatives” (HAH!!!) that Bush talked about? Or have ALL Republicans gone off the deep end?  Have they all gone the way of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker or Eskimo Curlew??

I take heart that given the Republican’s love of rich people and HAIRY OLD WHITE MEN, pretty soon those few Republicans who AREN’T HAIRY OLD WHITE MEN will realize they’re supporting the wrong party.  GET A CLUE, REPUBS!!  There are one HELL of a lot more of us out here than just HAIRY OLD WHITE MEN.  Continue to make the HAIRY OLD WHITE MAN political platform the platform of the Republican Party, and your party is doomed.

Posted in Culture Wars, Equality, Politics

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“Take the keys away” from men

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Terry| 7 Comments
Hand over the keys, guys

OK guys, we've had our chance, and we've been a complete and utter disaster. We've had our 5,000 year run. Time to hand the keys over to women.

CNN has a story tonight about the Secret Service scandal involving prostitutes, and notes that one issue is that there simply aren’t enough women in the Secret Service (it’s about 3 men for every 1 woman).  The story just simply states that “Women don’t get into trouble the way men do”, and that having a male-dominated culture at the Secret Service is a BIG part of the problem.

Even as a man, I couldn’t agree more!  I think the world would be a MUCH more pleasant place if men were taken out of ANY position of real responsibility, and women were solely in charge.  What I propose…a proverbial “taking the keys away” from men, from the very moment they’re born.  Might as well start early, and remove ANY chance that men are ever put in charge of ANYTHING.  Want your little boy to run for president of the 5th grade class?  TOO BAD!! Girls only!!  The football coach of the local high school team?  MUST be a woman!  I think you could make it kind of “unofficial” rule for kids under 18, but the moment a man turns 18 or enters the work force, it should be a rule that no man can EVER be placed in a position of power over any woman.  No, even simpler, make it so no man can ever be placed in ANY position of power, ever.

I’m convinced such a system would eliminate 99% of the world’s problems.  As it is now, it seems that most of the world’s problems are caused by an excess of testosterone.  As a man, I confess that as a sex, we are selfish, egotistical pigs who seem to be ONLY driven by the need to compete and “beat” our fellow-man at, well, whatever life throws at us.   The macho bravado that typifies men playing any kind of sport?  It really isn’t ANY different in everyday life for 99% of men.

We all see it every day, from the moment we leave the house in the morning.  You’re driving to work, and inevitably some guy who simply MUST be ahead of you will drive like a complete jackass, either cutting you off, passing you, or just giving you the ol’ one-finger salute for daring to be on the same road as him.  You get to work, and the macho bravado continues, with a large proportion of men treating work less as a cooperative venture and more like a sporting competition, where the only real goal is to gain personal glory, no matter who gets stepped on along the way, or how it may hurt the company or group you’re working for.  Certainly my LEAST favorite aspect of work, by far, is dealing with people who only seem to care about ‘credit’ and putting themselves up on a pedestal.  And…the vast majority of those people are men.

Take that line of thinking up to positions of REAL power, and it only gets worse.  Give a guy an army to play with, and you’re just ASKING for bombs to be falling somewhere in the world, for a war to be happening somewhere, no matter whether it’s actually necessary.  As men, it seems like we can’t help ourselves.  We’re just not happy unless we’re trying to beat the hell out of another human being, either literally or figuratively.   I dare ANYONE to dispute that the world would be a much nicer place if we immediately removed all male world leaders, and replaced them with women.

No, given the machismo that permeates all men to some degree, I wouldn’t expect men to take such a drastic change without putting up a fight.  But think about it, men. No more dealing with the stress of competition.  No more stressing out about work, and trying to climb to the top.  Hell, it could even mean the end of neighborhood “lawn wars”, where men can’t help but fertilize and treat the hell out of their lawns in order to make their yard one-quarter shade greener than your neighbors.  Think how much more free time we would have, since right now, I think we each spend, on average, about 10 hours a day in some weird form of manly “competition”, be it at home, work, on the road, etc.

As my son would say…just “chill-ax”, guys.  Stop $ucking things up around the world.  We’ve be dominating the human race for, oh, 5,000 years or so.  It’s time to admit we’ve failed, and hand over the keys to what is UNDOUBTEDLY the “better half” of the human race.

Posted in Culture Wars, Deep Thoughts

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Romney’s “Business Plan” – Lying

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Terry| 2 Comments
Mitt Romney

Surprisingly, I couldn't find a photo of Romney speaking out of both sides of his mouth. This one will have to do, Romney no doubt laughing about completely stupid American voters are for voting for him despite his lack of respect for the truth.

Richard Cohen at the Washington Post has a quite blunt feature today on Mitt Romney and the art of lying.  My favorite part of the feature are the concluding sentences, which give you a nice succinct summary of what it takes to be a politician like Romney:

Business is business. It’s what you do. It is not who you are. Lying isn’t a sin. It’s a business plan.

Thanks to the flub by the Romney campaign, Romney himself is now the “etch-a-sketch” candidate, someone who will say anything to please, well, whoever he happens to be speaking to that day.  If that includes outright lying to try to gain favor with the crowd du jour?  No problem!!  To hear Romney TALK during the GOP campaign, you’d have thought he were a staunch conservative from…Montana? Texas?  You CERTAINLY wouldn’t get the truth…that he was actually a fairly progressive, quite moderate governor of Massachusetts.  The etch-a-sketch candidate has built a false history of supposed conservatism, a history built on a bed of lies.

When he’s been attacked during the campaign, either about his outright lies or about some other aspect of his candidacy, time and time again, Romney’s strategy has been to briefly explain it away, then quickly counter and attack the accuser.  The GOP in general has been under relentless attack for their stances on women’s rights and issues.  Romney’s strategy to deal with it?  To make up a complete lie, one so ridiculous you’d THINK you couldn’t say it with a straight face.  Romney’s big attack in the last week has been that of job losses since the recession began, that “92.3% of them are women”.  One thing Romney certainly excels at is not only lying, but the VERY selective use of misleading statistics to bolster his campaign.

It’s not like Romney is alone in terms of his abuse of the truth.  Yesterday on the way home, on the radio I listened to what was a very shocking history for Rep. Darrell Issa, a very conservative House member from California who has led many attacks on Obama and Dems.  The man is COMPLETE SCUM…with a history of legal issues.  He’s been arrested for stealing cars.  He COMPLETELY distorted his military record during his political campaigns. He committed insurance fraud by torching his business…right after QUADRUPLING his insurance, and putting all the truly valuable items in a fire-proof safe.   He’s been arrested on weapons charging, after a gun, a tear-gas gun, and ammo for both were found in his car. 

But yet Issa has been a GREAT business success, and is currently the richest member of Congress.  A scum with a history like Issa has somehow managed to become a powerful CHAIR of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee!!  Seriously!?!?   A man with HIS history, in charge of a committee meant to reign in corruption in government?!?!?

THIS is what it evidently takes to become successful in America.  You need to lie!! You NEED to be a cutthroat POS with no concern about ethics, your own personal honor, or the welfare of others.  It’s certainly worked for Issa, and seemingly 90% of all politicians in Washington.

And it seems to be the path of choice for Romney.  Just look at Romney’s etch-a-sketch campaign, his statements that wander all over the map, depending on which way the political winds are blowing that day.  He’s the PERFECT presidential candidate, especially for a party like the GOP.   What continually shocks me about American politics is how men like Issa or Romney manage to hoodwink people into voting for them.

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GOP Response to Obama/Contraceptive issue? An all-male congressional hearing

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Terry| 4 Comments
White Congressmen!

DO NOT FEAR, woman citizen of the United States!! These "hairy old white men" (my wife's phrase) have your back!! The GOP holds a committee hearing on Obama's contraceptives decree, and somehow forgets to invite women to the discussion.

God it’s good to be a liberal right now, and watch the increasingly radicalized GOP self-destruct.  After vehement (and largely phony) outrage over the last week regarding Obama’s decision to force coverage of contraception for certain groups, Republicans have certainly TRIED to make it an issue to focus on for the campaign.  Somehow, having the insurance companies themselves pay for contraceptives coverage is Obama trying to “destroy Catholicism” (something Gingrich says Obama will start doing as soon as he’s re-elected)?  Given how all of the GOP issues they were banking on for the fall election are melting away (economy, Obama’s ratings, foreign policy, etc.), this is what they’re left with.

It’s been wonderful watching how incredibly inept the GOP has been though, in trying to make this a major campaign issue.  Just hearing Santorum or any Santorum backer speak on the issue is enough to warm the heart of any liberal hoping for an Obama re-election.  Thursday, the GOP-led House ratcheted it up a notch, holding a Congressional hearing on the Obama contraceptive issue.

The problem?  The five panelists invited to participate in the hearing?  ALL MEN.   The House Committee driving the panel?  Very heavily male.   This fiasco of a Committee hearing has certainly been getting a lot of play in the media and in the blogosphere, particularly from groups that support women’s rights.

I thought it was a very gutsy move for Obama to make last week, knowing he was up for re-election, yet following his heart and pushing for fair coverage for contraceptives.  I shuddered when I first saw the (fake) outrage from the right, knowing immediately they were going to try to make it a major campaign issue.

I should have known better. As inept as the GOP is right now, I should have KNOWN they would take a potential campaign theme, a potential strength, and screw it up and turn it into a major liability for them come November.  Did any of these “Hairy old white men” (my wife’s phrase when hearing about this) REALLY think it was a good idea to hold a congressional committee hearing on the issue, but largely leave women out of the discussion???

Well-played, GOP!!   Once again, you’ve got Obama’s re-election team laughing at your bumbling.

Posted in Hairy Old White Men, Politics

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GOD I hope Santorum can somehow win the nomination…

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Terry| 1 Comment
Rick Santorum

Well, at least Santorum is consistent. He's ALWAYS been about "Faith and Family", as long as "family" is meant in the Old Testement, keep the women at home type of sense. "Freedom"? Not so much if you happen to be a female.

It’s stories like this from CNN that have me, and no doubt Obama handlers, drooling over the prospect of Rick Santorum continuing to gain momentum, and win the GOP nomination.  Outside of the fact that ALL  GOP candidates ripped into Obama for last week’s moves on insurance coverage for contraception, it was no surprise that Santorum joined the fray and was among the most vocal of critics.  After all, Santorum has “convictions”, right?  That’s what appeals to evangelical and other conservatives, is that Santorum has always supported a very conservative agenda.

Those “convictions” are winning him a lot of fans in what’s become a very radicalized Republican party.  Those “convictions” have won him 4 primaries or caucuses, and have him positioned for a massive, statement-victory in Michigan in few weeks, a supposed Romney stronghold.  Those “convictions” still are unlikely to win him the GOP nomination, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility anymore. 

Those “convictions” would also result in a Santorum massacre in the election against Obama in the fall.  Last time I checked, half of the human race are females.  Yes, there are very conservative females who would support Santorum.  There are very conservative females who DO share Santorum’s views on women, and their place in society.  Heck, I think back to my now-departed Grandma Sohl, who insisted that the men sit and eat first at family gatherings.  A wonderful woman, but with some views of the place of men and women that were about as “old school” as you can get.  At least on some social issues, Santorum might get the “Grandma Sohl” vote.  But does ANYONE really think Santorum would have a shot in the fall election?  What percentage of women would actually vote for this dinosaur?

Some wonderful Santorum gems from over the years:

On birth control: “I don’t think it works. I think it’s harmful to women, I think it’s harmful to our society to have a society that says that sex outside of marriage is something that should be encouraged or tolerated, particularly among the young. I think it has, as we’ve seen, very harmful long-term consequences for society. So birth control to me enables that and I don’t think it’s a healthy thing for our country.”

About women’s (suppoosed lack of) potential for military combat: “I think that could be a very compromising situation, where people naturally may do things that may not be in the interest of the mission because of other types of emotions that are involved.”

About denying all abortion, even in the case of rape: “As horrible as the way that that son or daughter was created, it still is her child. And whether she has that child or doesn’t, it will always be her child. And she will always know that.”

On equal opportunities for women in the workplace: “Radical feminists have been making the pitch that justice demands that men and women be given an equal opportunity to make it to the top in the workplace.”

On providing assistance to single mothers: “The notion that college education is a cost-effective way to help poor, low-skill, unmarried mothers with high school diplomas or GEDs move up the economic ladder is just wrong.”

Santorum has benefited greatly from being the last “Someone Other Than Romney” still standing.   Rick Perry and Michelle Bachmann were originally the favored “someone other than Romney”…until they opened their mouths and people realized with aghast how completely inept they were.  Newt Gingrich was riding high for a short time, until he opened his mouth and started talking about moon colonies as a high priority.  Until the Iowa caucus, Rick Santorum was flying under the radar, and was largely unvetted like most of his opponents.  That’s starting to change, as the media starts to reveal the “real” Rick Santorum.

It’s not a pretty side to the man.  It’s one that makes him completely inelectable.  For Obama’s sake, I also hope it’s a side that stays behind the curtain for awhile longer, until Santorum can somehow procure the GOP nomination.

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Enough with the hypocrisy

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Terry| 1 Comment
The alternative...

Hey! Catholics and Right-wingers!! THIS is what happens when contraception isn't readily available. Given how you right-wing wackos also seem to completely disdain science, I can see how you might not get this point. But it's true!! Do you want an increase in abortions? Do you want more single mothers? Do you want more children living in poverty? Then you're on the right track by trying to restrict access to contraceptives.

GMAB.  I’m really getting sick of the whining about Obama’s initial decision to force groups affiliated with religious organizations to offer coverage for contraception.  The Catholic church claims it’s government interference with their religious beliefs.

Bull$hit (note I’ve used a cleverly disguised curse, to protect the precious and tender morality of any Catholic who might be reading this).   Enough of the mock outrage, Catholics.  An astounding 98% of Catholic women have used contraceptive devices at some point in their life.  THE VAST MAJORITY of Catholics disagree with the (freakin’ stupid) decree from the Catholic Church outlawing use of contraceptives.   ENOUGH OF THE HYPOCRISY.  ENOUGH OF THE COMPLETELY FAKE OUTRAGE.  

Frankly, I think the outcry from MOST of the conservative right has VERY little to do with the issue itself, and more to do with the fact that it was Obama who issued the decree.  This isn’t about religious freedom.  It’s about discriminatory treatment of women, all wrapped up in a nice warm fuzzy Catholic blanket.  

Note to Catholic Church…get out of the freakin’ dark ages. 

Note to the Republican Party…Now that the economy is strengthening, now that Obama has killed Bin Laden, are you SO desperate to find some TINY little shred of an issue to attack Obama, that this has someone become a rallying cry for your party?   DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK, GOP.   Continue to push this, and we’ll see how women vote in the election come November.

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