"Death and the Miser" by Jan Provost, Flemish, ca 1500.

Why is it that all these supposedly brilliant people were so fricking STUPID about obama? THIS ARTICLE is excellent, but, really Nat? You are JUST BEGINNING to think that obama might be a phony?!?

“I try to avoid hyperbole, but I think Obama is possibly the most dangerous and destructive president we have ever had. An example is ObamaCare, which is now embattled in the Senate [this article was published 12/11/09]. If that goes through the way Obama wants, we will have something very much like the British system. If the American people have their health care paid for by the government, depending on their age and their condition, they will be subject to a health commission just like in England which will decide if their lives are worth living much longer.

–snip–

I am beginning to think that this guy is a phony. Obama seems to have no firm principles that I can discern that he will adhere to. His only principle is his own aggrandizement. This is a very dangerous mindset for a president to have.”

No shit, Sherlock. We’ve been saying that for almost TWO FREAKING YEARS! (emphasis mine. h/t Boston Boomer)

For more on British Health Commission Panels, see HERE. Turns out that this jackass, Hentoff (who, by the way,  is 100% correct about the “Death Panels” (Sarah Palin didn’t lie!!) and the torture, and the spying on American citizens) is also ardently pro-forced-pregnancy, which seems quite a large blind spot for someone whose embrace of civil liberties is so wide as to make him opposed to ALL hate crime legislation, but I’m sure he has a “reasoned and rational” defense based on “facts” to support his support of the oppression of women, but regardless of all that, here’s a proposal for those who want to force women to remain pregnant:

1. Make abortion illegal in all cases except for the life of the mother or fetus.
2. Require fathers of children conceived in cases where the mother WANTED an abortion to earn at least 400% of the U.S. poverty level and turn over 30% of that income to the mother for the raising of each unwanted child, whether the parents are married or not.
3. The penalty for not paying $30,000 a year per child to the mother of your children (whether the parents are married or not) is a minimum of 5 years in jail. If a father cannot earn that much money he will be required to work 40 hours a week at a state-run work camp to pay back his (literal) debt to society, because the State will pay the $30,000 per year to the mother if the father truly cannot earn it. Deadbeat Dads who CAN afford to pay but don’t will  go to jail FOR LIFE where they will work in work camps.
4. Abandoned single mothers and widows who registered for a “Hardship Abortion Pass” and were denied by the State will receive payment of $30,000 per year, per unwanted child.
5. State funded Adoption Centers with the highest standards of care will be open to ALL mothers of unwanted newborns to drop off at any time in the first six months of life. Children from these “orphanages” will have their medical care, health insurance, and college tuition paid for 100% by the state, for life, even if they are adopted.

I kind of like my idea. If the State can force women to be parents when they don’t want to be, why shouldn’t they also be able to force men to be fathers to their unwanted offspring?

I for one wouldn’t mind seeing Levi Johnson’s ass in jail.

Pumas and non-Pumas alike are reeling today after a long week last week and an even longer weekend. Familiar voices are now outright calling on American women to just walk away from the Democratic Party. Sounds good to me.

Also, Nidal Hasan, the jihadist who also frequents strip clubs( now WHY DOES THAT SOUND FAMiLIAR?? Oh, and don’t blame islam or call it jihad even though Hasan spoke with reverence of the imam at the mosque in Virginia he attended along with 9/11 terrorists Hazmi and Hanjour) may be conscious and speaking with investigators.

• Terrorists paying American women for lap dances and then mowing them down with automatic weapons?
• Republican men saying they don’t want obstetrical care covered in basic insurance plans because they themselves will never need maternity care so why should they have to subsidize it?
• Democratic men saying no public dollars should be available to any American woman who chooses to exercise her Constitutional right to privacy? And the Democratic Party leadership going along with that?

As Eminem says, “If I had one wish, it would be for an ass big enough for the whole world to kiss.”

A-yup.

obama’s approval rating has been in the negative double digits for 17 of the last 19 days. He’s been at -13 since Sunday. Also, most Americans would NOT vote to reelect him if the election were held today. Also, 77% of Americans believe Hillary Clinton would have been as good or better president than obama.

So, have a damn cupcake.

And pass the popcorn:

“As voters across the country head to the polls Tuesday, one thing appears certain: Many of them are angry.And that anger could shape the results of three of the most high-profile elections this year — gubernatorial battles in New Jersey and Virginia and the fight for an open seat in New York’s 23rd Congressional District.

National polls indicate that many voters are in a foul mood. The big question is whether that mood will continue into 2010, when the entire House of Representatives, more than a third of the Senate and more than a third of the governorships are up for grabs.”

Turnout is WAAY high around the country, always a bad sign for incumbents. What is it that HP always says? Throw the bums out? Or is it Flush the bums down the toilet??

Either way.

Was listening to On Point with Tom Ashbrooke this morning on WBUR (my local NPR station), ruining an otherwise glorious drive along a Great Metrowest country road in late September. Why do we do things that cause us emotional and mental pain? Willfully agreeing to jeopardize our long-term health and general well-being?

What jackasses these jokers are. Katrina vanden Heuvel and Jack Beatty are unmitigated SNOBS and have pretty much ZERO idea of what our government is and how it’s supposed to operate. When the people govern themselves Jack and Kat it can get a bit, erm, messy. I think they honestly believe only people who have graduated from good colleges should be allowed to vote.

It’s reverse fascism. Or something. Maybe it’s “The Fascism of Good Intentions.” Hey, I like that idea — that would make a great debate topic among some super smart historian/legal/political types. Too bad all of the smart historian/legal/political types subscribe with their whole hearts and minds to the Prescribed System of Thinking for Well Intentioned Thoughtful Liberls.

Oy vey.

Meanwhile, the “president” of Iran is saying the Holocaust was made up to provide an “excuse” to set up a Jewish state in Palestine; disagreeing with the president’s policies makes you a racist; and anyone who criticizes the government or supports the Second Amendment is as bad as Lee Harvey Oswald or Sirhan Sirhan.

Also, what about this new move in Turkey to encourage families to force their daughters into “honor suicides” in order to avoid the stigma which attaches to “honor killings” so that Turkey can increase its chances of being admitted to the European Union?

Oy vey.

Anyways, for a heartwarming love story, read THIS. True, romantic love. A woman who respects her background, loves her parents, and wants to honor them. Lovely. Then read the comments. Holy smokes.

If, after reading the article and the comments you still don’t understand how it is possible for us to hate Islam but love muslim women, then you are too fucking stupid to read this blog and I invite you to please go away.

If, after watching the video of the boy being beat into submission on the school bus you still don’t understand how it is possible for us to know that hatred of white people played a part in the thug’s attack and the crowd’s support but that knowing this and hating it does NOT make us racists, then you are too fucking stupid to read this blog and I invite you to please go away.

If, after 15 months of daily posts, essays, articles, actions, and everything else, you still don’t understand that we really, truly, deeply DISAGREE about lots of things in this world and that there is no Book of Righteousness out there in which you and your “Right Way of Thinking” is described, but that our responsibility as citizens is to work together to maintain and exercise the power of the people, then you are really fucking stupid, but I hope you will continue to read this blog.

]]> http://pumapac.org/2009/09/18/oy-vey/feed/ 352 http://pumapac.org/2009/09/11/the-rubicon-of-ridiculous/ http://pumapac.org/2009/09/11/the-rubicon-of-ridiculous/#comments Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:31:29 +0000 murphy http://pumapac.org/?p=7299

“And one more misunderstanding I want to clear up –under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place.”

Is there a font size large enough to encompass the enormity of my WTF!?!? this morning? 

Two questions for the women out there who supported obama over Hillary Clinton:

1. Do you HONESTLY think she would have made the above statement in an address to both houses of Congress?
   
2. What the HELL were you thinking when you beat us over the head repeatedly last year with the ROE ROE ROE ROE billy club?? Remember when we said we didn’t buy it, that we didn’t TRUST OBAMA TO PROTECT WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS? Can you at least admit WE WERE RIGHT?
   
3. How do you sleep at night you JACKASSES?

oops — that was technically 5 questions. Sorry. 

When people on both sides of an argument KNOW that something really wrong is happening but can neither stop it nor pinpoint exactly WHAT is happening or going to happen with a piece of legislation this substantial; when all we can do is scream paranoid insults at each other and convince ourselves that our neighbors, our sister and fellow citizens, are EVIL stupid worthless Democrats Republicans Moonbats Wingnuts Libtards Rethugs FASCISTS!!! the political process in this country has crossed the Rubicon into the Realm of the Ridiculous, a theater of the absurd in which we maintain all the trappings of democracy and freedom (votes will still take place on the first Tuesday in November. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights remain on proud display under glass in the Library of Congress. Boy scouts will still take guided tours of the White House and the Jefferson Memorial.), but the People not only no longer have any real political power,
WE HAVE FORGOTTEN WE EVEN EVER HAD ANY AT ALL OR WHY IT WAS IMPORTANT OR WHAT IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE USED FOR.

We are no longer a nation of citizens but of subjects.

IF THIS RAPE VICTIM WERE A MAN IT WOULD BE WAAAY MORE HORRIBLE AND SHAMEFUL

Secretary Clinton to Travel to Goma to Speak Out Against War Rape

From the New York Times:

“On Tuesday, Mrs. Clinton will fly to Goma, in the heart of the battle zone. The city was nearly overrun by rebels last year and is situated in a bowl of beautiful but treacherous green mountains, making it difficult for aircraft to land and resulting in several fatal air crashes in the recent years.

But Mrs. Clinton said the importance of the visit outweighed the risks of going there.

“Lots of concerns were raised and objections,” she said. “But I said, ‘this is something I want to do and we’re going.’”

In Goma, Mrs. Clinton plans to meet several women who have been raped, the human consequences of this unending war. The United Nations calls eastern Congo the rape capital of the world because hundreds of thousands of women have been sexually assaulted by the various militias haunting the hills. Recently, there has been a spike in cases of men raping men as well.

“Women are being turned into weapons of war,” Mrs. Clinton said on the plane from Angola to Congo, the fourth stop on her seven-nation African tour.

The Congo visit has a sharper point to it than many of the other stops. Mrs. Clinton has cast herself as an advocate for women — and in many ways she is a role model across the world — and eastern Congo desperately needs something to lift it out of its morass of violence, which seems increasingly unsolvable.”

Imagine if she were president. An inspiring and courageous leader for sure.

But don’t be distracted. I was first troubled by the reporter’s line: “. . .women who have been raped, the human consequences of this unending war.” What the hell is THAT supposed to mean? Bomb craters, dead soldiers, ruined infrastructure, destroyed economy, accidental/on-purpose civilian deaths: THOSE are the human consequences of war. When the hell did the rape of women become a human consequence of war? No, I’m not being obtuse. Of course I know that men raping women in the name and under the cover of war is as old as war itself. What I didn’t know is that in a civilized, supposedly egalitarian society like ours we had become so immune and blind to misogyny that we consider the rape of women to be as expected and inevitable as a power outage during war.

The comment from Violet Sox’s place has been buzzing around in my head since I read it this morning:

“I remember reading a comment elsewhere saying that to this guy [the aerobics class murderer], as to others (though not all), women existed as a “form of consumption”. They aren’t real people with their own dreams, interests, strengths and flaws, hobbies and jobs, families and friends… they exist to “be consumed by men”.
– Esther”

Women exist to be consumed by men. Now THAT is a thought to stop me in my tracks. As I said in comments earlier, it makes me think differently about the Mary Jo Kopechne drowning.  That young woman was Kennedy’s Object to Consume. Just like Chandra Levy. Just like Mark Sanford’s Argentinian girlfriend (just like his wife too!); Just like Sarah Palin for the rabid  men of the left. Women exist to be consumed by men. As wives to take care of their homes and their personal lives; as mothers to raise their children; As cheerleaders to support their dreams; As sex objects to satisfy their physical needs; As cooks to provide them with food. As rage receptacles when shame and insecurity gives them permission to torture and kill their girlfriends, wives, daughters, or complete strangers.

But that’s nothing compared to what I found in the embedded link to the article about the rise of men being raped by men:

“The male rape cases are still just a fraction of those against women. But for the men involved, aid workers say, it is even harder to bounce back.
“Men’s identity is so connected to power and control,” Ms. Walker said.
And in a place where homosexuality is so taboo, the rapes carry an extra dose of shame.”

Less than one-tenth of one percent as many rapes of men as there are of women in Goma. Several hundred thousand women have been raped — perhaps a few hundred men, but it is WORSE FOR THE MEN!

“Men’s identity is so connected to power and control.” Uh, yeah, what the hell do you think women’s identity is tied to? Folding laundry? Baking the best f*cking cherry pie in the neighborhood? Can anyone plausibly argue that women don’t link our sense of selves, our identities, to our own power and control over our daily lives and destinies? Or did the aid worker mean that men’s identities are so connected to power and control OVER OTHER PEOPLE? Or does the reporter, the editor, AND the aid worker not know what the hell they are talking about?

“The [homosexual] rapes carry an extra dose of shame.” Oh really? We now can quantify shame down to the teaspoon-dose level and KNOW that for men, the shame is much worse?

Obviously, the aid worker is an idiot. But the reporter, Jeffrey Gettleman, is worse than an idiot. Why didn’t he frame the comments in their obvious context: That, as Bob Hebert says in the very same newspaper, “We have become so accustomed to living in a society saturated with misogyny that the barbaric treatment of women and girls has come to be more or less expected” ?? Why didn’t Gettleman’s editor call for an immediate re-write and blast the reporter for allowing his unconscionable bias into the article?

Oh, that’s right, because there are NO EDITORS at the New York Times who know how to spot misogyny. Four out of 18 editors at the NYT are women. Only one of them, Jill Abramson, serves in the newsroom, assigning and overseeing news stories .There ARE NO EDITORS in the mainstream media in the United States who recognize the atmosphere in which we all swim for what it is: toxically damaging to women and girls.

Because I live to serve, though not to be consumed, I will provide, FOR FREE, a rewrite of Gettleman’s atrocious passage:

Women are second-class citizens in Goma, as in many other parts of Africa and the developing world. This pervasive misogyny means that both victims and those who respond to the rape crisis in war-torn areas believe the rape of men is somehow worse, or more shameful, for the male victims. The male rape cases are still just a fraction of those against women. But for the men involved, aid workers say, it is even harder to bounce back. “Men’s identity is so connected to power and control,” Ms. Walker said. And in a place where homosexuality is so taboo homophobia is rampant, the rapes carry an extra dose of shame.”

Pay attention professional, serious journalists and editors. If you hired someone like me to edit the rampant misogyny out of your publications and broadcasts you could end up with a product that’s as popular as, say, HILLARY CLINTON!

Iowa steaks, burgers, pork and all manner of good things carnivorous on the menu tonight, not to mention fresh, organic veggies, cold beer and MOJITOS mixed up by FLBarbara and Dragonfly just for us! Simofish is justly proud of her work in the backyard and has invited all Pumas over to her and the Mrs.’ place tonight. I can personally attest to their gracious and exuberant hospitality, AND the stupendousness of the Mrs.’ cooking, so a good time is sure to be had by all!

Another thing Simo has to be proud and happy about is that as part of her job she is in charge of awarding college scholarships to LGBT high school students. She mentioned it in comments late last night, but I didn’t get a chance to give her a “Hell, yeah Sister” then so, “Hell Yeah, Sister Simofish!”

And, in addition to the scrumptious offerings on the table, here’s some of the other kind of food — food for thought — to chew on tonight as the buzz builds. I was commenting today on THIS intriguing thread over at Cinie’s place and I think we can and should talk more about the many issues Cinie brought up. 

I continue to stand by and promote my definition that Feminism is the human experience as lived by women, and that therefore ALL women and girls are feminists — simply by virtue of being born as girls. So my views are borne from that premise. It leads me to very interesting (to me at least LOL!) questions and conundrums, such as:

Imagine if fully 40% of African Americans either didn’t support or were actively and vocally opposed to the Civil Rights Movement? (I’m not talking about the universal Civil Rights Movement, which dances pointed out many African Americans are NOT supportive of (i.e. their support of Prop Hate and their unwillingness to expand the definition of “civil rights” to include lesbians and gay men)).

I’m talking about the classic, old-school anti-racism, full equality and opportunities for black people Civil Rights Movement of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X. and their descendents. What if fully 40% of African-Americans were opposed to THAT Civil Rights Movement?

What would that mean for the Movement? Would it be forced to rethink its premises? Would it be obviously and automatically de-legitimized? 

Another thought that I chew on is related to Justice Bader Ginsburg’s view that “There will never be a woman of means without choice anymore. That just seems to me so obvious. The states that had changed their abortion laws before Roe [to make abortion legal] are not going to change back. So we have a policy that affects only poor women, and it can never be otherwise, and I don’t know why this hasn’t been said more often.’”

How vulnerable is the movement for women’s full political freedom in this country to being divided along economic lines? Will women work to defeat an injustice that only affects poor women, especially if many of those poor women are self-described pro-lifers?

Hmmmm . . . . 

LOTS to think about. I need another mojito. 

And we ALL need some dancing music for the end of a LOONG week!

Boston Boomer has a great post up about the insanity of trying to be sane in an insane world. Her citation of this study, in which sociologists had themselves admitted to mental hospitals by pretending to be crazy and then acted normally once they were committed, only to find that the only people in the asylums who knew they were only pretending to be crazy were the actual crazy people (the doctors and nurses NEVER realized), is worth a chuckle on many levels.

Also, this from Violet Sox is a must-read. A sheepish young feminist named Hilary G, who no longer participates in PDS’ fueled misogyny, wrote:

“In the wake of the Bush presidency, McCain’s choice of a female VP seemed like an audacious ploy to differentiate his campaign from Bush’s, to redeem the Republican ideology by distancing itself from the Bush presidency. The idea that this (Republican) woman could throw the whole election somehow gave me every incentive to hate her, to believe everything I heard about her, to brand her “one of those women that make other women look bad.” She was definitely a hate receptacle. McCain wasn’t a hate receptacle, despite his Republicanism, because he was a man.”

If in fact Hilary G is a real person and that is a genuine comment, well, welcome to Pumaville Hilary G! I’m thrilled you now see the light, though I find your word choice somewhat puzzling. You were afraid Palin might be a sign that McCain’s campaign was “distancing itself from the Bush presidency” and that Palin “could throw the whole election”? Well, what the heck would be wrong with “distancing itself from the Bush presidency?? Also, another way of saying “throw the whole election” is “WIN the whole election.” For crying out loud. If a candidate, or team of candidates, and the platform they push become attractive to a large enough number of voters who go ahead and decide to VOTE for the team, that’s called WINNING AN ELECTION IN A DEMOCRACY!

It sounds like what Hilary G is really saying is that she was afraid her team was going to lose so she decided to lie, cheat, and throw her principles overboard so that she could feel like a winner.

The candidates, by design and/or by coincidence, TRY to reach out to voters and persuade them of their competence, charisma, whatever. You appear to be characterizing Palin’s appeal as CHEATING. In fact, to take the insanity masquerading as sanity theme a bit further, you appear to have decided that since the other side might WIN FAIR AND SQUARE (though you call it cheating) that you and all your friends were JUSTIFIED IN CHEATING yourselves! In my book, participating in vile smear campaigns based on blatant and disproved lies (rape kits, creationism, incest) IS cheating. Damnit it all to hell, Hilary G. 

Hilary G’s perhaps inadvertently candid assessment of the behavior and motives of the Left (and their toadies in the established Feminist Movement) makes it obvious to me: We were right then and we are right now. The Powers That Be were scared witless of Hillary Clinton and they feel the same way about Palin.

Don’t forget it Pumas. Every stupid, insane crazy LIE they use to Kill The Bitch is used for one, simple reason: They are TERRIFIED of her.

Good.

Because it should be repeated every few weeks, HERE is a CLASSIC post on Clinton Derangement Syndrome and the misogyny it made commonplace. Every single one of the links in this paragraph is to mainstream media outlet or a Big BOIZ Blog. Every single one.

Hillary Clinton is a bitch. A big ol’ bitchy bitch. And a cunt.A “big fucking whore.” Fortunately, you can “call a woman anything.” She’s “Nurse Ratched.” She’ll castrate you if she gets a chance. She would like that. She’s a “She-Devil.” She’s a madam, and her daughter’s a whore. She’s frigid, and she can’t give head. She’s a “She-Devil.” A lesbian. A nag. When things get tough, she cries like a big dumb GIRL. In fact, she’s just that — a “little girl.” In FACT, she wants to “cry her way to the White House.” To be, ahem, “Crybaby-in-Chief.” That proves that she’s not tough enough. But she’s also not feminine enough. She’s “screechy.” She’s an “aging, resentful female.” She’s “Sister Frigidaire.” She really ought to quit running for President and stick to housework. She basically spent her entire times as First Lady going to tea parties. She’s a monster whojust won’t die. In fact, she really should just die. You can buy aurinal target with her face on it to express what you really think of her. OMG she’s got claws! She’s crazy. In fact, she’s a lunatic. She’s petty and vindictiveand entitled. She’s a washed-up old hag. She’s “everybody’s first wifestanding outside probate court.” She’s a “scolding mother.” She’s shrill… shrill… shrill. She can’t take it when people are mean to her. She’s a “hellish housewife.” She’sTanya Harding. She CAN’T be President, what with the mood swings and the menses.Any woman who votes for her is voting with her vagina, not her brain. Women only like Hillary because she’s a fellow Vagina-American. And because they vote with their feelings. Frankly, anyone who still thinks we need “feminine role models” should get over it and move on, already. Oh, and men who supporters are castratos in the eunuch chorus. You shouldn’t make her President because she wants it too much. She’s totally just banking on support from ugly old feminists. And she looooves to “play the victim.” She cackles! And cackles. And cackles. It’s like she’s a witch or something! She’s definitely“witchy.” And now you can buy her cackle as your ring tone. Her voice, too, is “grating”—like “fingernails on a blackboard” to “some men.” She’s hiding behind her gender. She isn’t a “convincing mom” because she’s too strident. She never did anything on her own. Her husband keeps her on a leash. She hates men. Her campaign is a “catfight.” She makes people want to kill themselves, is like a “domineering mother,” and is cold. And OMG she has boobies! All of which are reasons to hateher. (And boy, could I go on.)

Oh, and if you even mention any of this, you’re either silly or a bad person.  

And she has cankles. (h/t mangoprincess)

Oh, and p.s. The SCFP, MSM, and TPTB can just knock it the fuck off with the “Sarah Palin is a Polarizing Figure” baloney. She’s a POLITICIAN nitwits — she’s SUPPOSED to be supported by some and not supported by others. Are the Boston Celtics a POLARIZING basketball team? I guess they must be, at least according to fans of the L.A. Lakers. About half of all American voters pulled the lever for obama in November. The other half voted for McCain. How come no one calls obama a “Polarizing Figure” even though at least HALF of the voters don’t like him, didn’t vote for him, and think he’s a terrible president?

More people strongly disapprove of obama than strongly approve — his worst polling yet. His daily approval index is also at a new low: -3%

You know what that means!

“NOW is meeting this weekend:

http://www.now.org/organization/conference/2009/
Note the agenda . . . Start the day with Yoga!, then Saturday night vote for a a new president (7:00-9:00). Kim Gandy is stepping down.

I still think Greta should do a special on feminism. The timing is perfect! The topic could be “Should NOW be called THEN,” or “What is 21st Century Feminism, and what are the issues women want addressed TODAY.”

Alice Paul and company broke from the mainstream conservative women’s-rights movement (headed up by Carrie Chapman Catts),and created a more radical wing! Let’s do it!”

Was sporadically involved in a conversation over at Violet Sox’s place about defining the Fourth Wave of Feminism. My new, working definition of feminism is:

“Feminism is human existence as lived by women.”

One common, and widely held definition of feminism and feminists is that it is the effort of people who struggle for women’s rights and women’s equality. In the United States we tend to automatically include the women of the Gulabi Gang in India or those women in Iran who have been inspired by Zahra Rahnavard to fight for a stronger political voice in the worldwide Feminist Movement. Uh-oh. So long as us Western women keep several thousand miles and several hundred years of social development between us and them, we’ll probably be okay and not have to confront any jarring contradictions. We’ll also remain open to the (very fair) accusation of being rich white elitists hopelessly removed from the every-day concerns and struggles of regular women (sounds familiar to the common complaint of Conservative American women about how liberal women treat them, no?).

For example, consider for a moment that Zhara Rahnavard strongly supports the tradition of Islamic women covering themselves for modesty. Rural Indian peasants likely have preposterously unenlightened views about “women’s work,” the “public/private spheres,” dowries, and child marriage. Your average Iranian or Indian feminist is likely 10 TIMES more conservative and backwards than someone like Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachmann. In the previous link, Rahnavard expresses her disdain for Western feminists who ignore women’s natural duty to their children and domesticity. Hmmm. . . So do we kick out Iranian feminists along with Sarah Palin? Or do we condescend to allow Rhanavard until she “knows better.” And if so, why don’t we extend the same patience to Palin? Can we talk to the Gulabi Gang as feminists or only as condescending Westerners? Because as soon as we try to talk to them as feminists, using the old definitions and assumptions, they’re likely to tell us to take a hike so they can get back to getting dinner ready or donning their hijabs so they can go grocery shopping.

So far, I like my definition. It excludes no one — no nationality or political party or culture. Well, except for one obvious group: men. Men cannot live the human experience as women. This keeps them out. Just like my white skin excludes me from being a member of the black civil rights movement, or the Native American civil rights movement. I can support their agenda — donate time and money, but I can’t suffer the injustices they suffer and I can’t really know their experience. So, Men: Thanks for all the support, please keep it coming. (If you detect a note of sarcasm, please just ignore it.) I’ll keep testing my definition against what I read and see, but until then,

Feminism is the human experience as lived by women.

Speaking of which, Rancho has also been keeping the fire burning for the Alice Paul Congressional Gold Medal. Contact your representative and ask them to co-sponsor this non-controversial and very meaningful measure to give Alice Paul and the legacy of the Woman’s Party the credit they so richly deserve.

Read the bill HERE. And contact your rep HERE. Use this letter as is, courtesy of Rancho, or edit it as you see fit. 

Dear Congressman,

I am your constituent and respectfully request that you consider co-sponsoring HR 406, which would award a Congressional Gold Medal to Alice Paul, an instrumental woman in the struggle for American women’s Constitutional right to vote.

Currently HR406 has only 113 co-sponsors, and it will NOT be moved to the floor of the House for a vote until it has 290, which would be 290 of the total 430 representatives. When legislation on this bill was initiated in the previous Congress, it garnered near unanimous, bipartisan support with 406 co-sponsors.

You can read the text of the bill here:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.406:

Currently, the breakdown of Co-Sponsors is:
-96 Democrats
-14 Republicans (2 are women)

I’m asking you to please show your support to 51% of the American voting population (women) by recognizing Alice Paul’s impact on our country. I’m asking you to please consider co-sponsoring this bill as MY representative. I’m asking you to PLEASE represent ME, and all women in your district by being part of that bipartisan support!

Respectfully,
Your Name and Address

Also in comments, invalidresponse provided these moving videos that are zipping around the internet. Very persuasive, both in their use of irony AND in their sincerely sentimental appeal. SHARE them!

Oh, and Dan Froomkin, the guy who introduced me to blogging WAAAY back in 2001, was fired from the Washington Post yesterday. Read all about it HERE. What a shame.

Andrew Sullivan is PISSED. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if the LGBT obama fans are the first to jump ship en masse and join us on the S.S. Puma. 

Oh, and p.s. Margaret and Helen have the best damn blog goin. I mean it. Really.

Quick! can you name the condition of not having a sense of smell? Guess and then click HERE.

In other oddly random bits of nonsense (actually the cases in the link above are NOT nonsense, but my link to them is. pretty much.), does anyone else share my preference for homemade chocolate chip cookies WITHOUT chocolate chips? I always pick the ones with the fewest chips and then nibble around the chocolate.  I’ve been tempted to just go ahead and make a batch of choco chip cookies and completely leave out the chips. Hey, they don’t call me radical for nuthin! I wonder if I just hit on a GENIUS marketing idea! Naked chocolate chip cookies anyone?

{{{{{{{{{{Secretary Clinton!!!}}}}}}}}}}

oh, and RD led me to THIS sensibly refreshing mothering blog. I’ve been doing some research on so-called “Mommy Blogs,” and oy vey! you would NOT believe how they stress the radical feminist tendons of my mental muscle to the BREAKING point! Free Range Kids is quite the site for sore eyes. and brains. If you are parenting school kids, or know someone who is, do yourself, or her, a favor and send her a link.

I’ve already forgotten what the name is for the condition where you can’t smell anything. (Blessing in disguise in many cases, if you ask me.).

In any case, Good night and Good Luck.

Thanks for all the CUPCAKES!

Just KIDDING!