These men were asked to testify before Congress about a potential ban on coverage of birth control for women. Look long enough at this photo (and think about the fact that these men are being empowered by our Congress to judge us as sluts and sinners and to withhold access to medicine and health care based on their view of us on the Slut Meter) until you are angry enough to do something about it.

I can only hope that the sheer insanity of some of these cavemen is becoming obvious enough to women that we will wake up and put a stake through the undead hearts of vampires like Santorum, Friess, and Issa. As always, shame on obama for opening this Hell Mouth with no intention of actually combatting the demons who poured out. His only craven purpose was to weaken Romney, not to protect women’s civil rights or improve our access to safe, affordable health care. It’s actually gone beyond an attack on the civil rights of women. We are now faced with serious threats to our bodies — reproductive disorders, syndromes, and diseases are extremely serious and common. Undiagnosed and untreated, they will sterilize, scar, and KILL women and girls. I’m not even talking about unplanned pregnancy here. I’m talking about endometriosis, PCOS, and HPV. I’m talking about lumps in breasts that become cancer. I’m talking about hormonal imbalances and diabetes.

How DARE a failed politician like Santorum presume to dictate the terms of intercourse and how much importance we can place on pleasure during sex in order to avoid sinning (gag) in HIS god’s eyes? Is this guy for real? If he was a teacher in my daughter’s school I’d report him as an obvious pervert and possible pedophile. Come on Catholics, don’t be fooled by obama’s ploy to send you running into this nutjob’s arms.

How DARE a chairperson of a Congressional committee NOT ALLOW women to testify on our own behalf about the effects of limiting our access to routine health care?

How DARE the state of Virginia contemplate passing a law requiring rape victims to be re-raped by a technician with a probe simply to guilt them into not terminating a pregnancy caused by their rapist?

How DARE Santorum’s sugar daddy get on national TV and wax reminiscent about the good old days when women had to literally clench their knees together to avoid rape and pregnancy?

Said billionaire Santorum funder Foster Friess on on MSNBC with Andrea Mitchell: “On this contraceptive thing, my gosh, it’s so inexpensive. You know, back in my days, they used Bayer Aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put it between their knees and it wasn’t that costly.”

**********  Pumapac PROWL *********

1. Call Rep. Darrell Issa’s office now and ask him how DARE he bar women from testifying to OUR Congress about a matter that profoundly affects our health and well-being, not even to mention our Constitutionally granted CIVIL RIGHTS?? Dial 202-225-3906. 

Send him an email HERE. Use a zip codefrom California’s 49th Congressional district to get through the filter (92587, 92590, 92591):

Dear Rep. Issa,
How dare you exclude women from testifying on our own behalf about legislation that would have a profound effect on our health and well-being? I am a woman — I vote, and I will work with other women and our friends and families to defeat your woman-hating agenda.
Sincerely, your name.

Email the Governor of Virginia. Use the address: 500 Ivy Ave, Charlottesville VA 22903 and  Violet Socks’ letter as a template:

Dear Governor McDonnell:
It’s my understanding that you have said you will sign HB462, the bill mandating that women seeking abortions be subjected to object rape with a vaginal probe.
Please understand that if you sign this bill, I and other women in Virginia will ensure that you will forever be known as “Rapist McDonnell.” We will work tirelessly to block your political ambitions FOREVER and to make sure that your complicity in the state-mandated object rape of Virginia citizens is never forgotten.
Sincerely, Your Name.

Pumas, don’t let the bastards get away with this. And don’t forget who started this war on our bodies and our rights.

via Still4Hill:
The “Hillary Run” Media Blitz Continues
Well this is becoming a daily dose! I would hold onto these, but tomorrow there may be more, and I will lose track, so the best thing to do is update now.
Two more articles circulated today visiting the idea of Hillary Rodham Clinton running for the highest office in the land. They seem to be multiplying exponentially as Americans awaken from their funk to the realities of Obama’s leadership deficit and the history they made.
Once again we have an article that refers to op-eds previously posted and discussed on these pages, but it is new and thus meets the requirement of my resolve to share these speculations as they come along.

via Salon:
Run, Hillary, run!
The case for why she should challenge President Obama in the 2012 Democratic primaries
If I were a Democrat (and I’m only posing as one here!), this would be why I think Hillary Clinton should challenge Barack Obama in 2012.
To begin, the president is in deep political trouble. I presented some basic economic indicators earlier that show the historical comparisons indicating that Obama is in Jimmy Carter territory. These are crude measures, of course. But more sophisticated forecast models, such as Yale economist Ray Fair’s, which uses per capita growth of real Gross Domestic Product during the three quarters preceding the election; the growth in inflation during the incumbent’s term; and the number of quarters during the incumbent’s term in which real GDP grows by more than 3.2 percent to predict the popular vote, now show Obama winning slightly less than 50 percent of 2012 popular vote. Given current economic projections, there’s not likely to be any more strong growth quarters between now and November 2012, meaning the odds for Obama’s reelection are probably not going to get better. To be sure, most of the political science forecast models don’t kick in until a year from now, so it’s a bit early to rely on them. But if Clinton is going to run, she can’t wait. And right now Obama is very vulnerable to a strong Republican challenger.
Of course, the fundamentals won’t change if she’s running. But note that the forecast models aren’t predicting a Republican blowout — they are forecasting a race that is, at this point, too close to call. That means marginal changes in turnout among key groups are crucial. Here’s where Hillary has the advantage.
To begin, her stint as secretary of state has done wonders for her approval rating, as indicated by Gallup poll surveys dating back to her time in the White House. While the president, mired deep in the political muck of Washington politics, sees his approval falling to 40 percent, Hillary’s has climbed close to 70 percent — and even higher in other surveys. Yes, this is partly an artifact of her position, which places her above the fray of domestic politics, and yes it will fall if she enters the race. But the fact remains that her public profile has been bolstered in the last several years, and she enters the race with that advantage. Indeed, she can use that non-partisan vantage point to frame her decision to run: It’s not about politics — it’s about the future of this country both here and abroad.

Would Hillary Clinton have been a better president than Obama?
On Friday’s Real Time with Bill Maher, the politically-incorrect pundit asked his panel, “Do you think people on the Left are having buyers’ remorse about the president?” — and the question, finetuned with a focus on Hillary Clinton as the erstwhile Obama alternative, has since inspired plenty of commentary. Should Democrats have picked Clinton instead?
(Hell yes!)

Chris Matthews: ‘We’re Stalled As A Country’ And Obama’s Not Running The Train Anymore
Chris Mathews also said something about sticking with Obama as he fails to show he really means it when obama says JOBS are number 1 and he has a detailed plan blah blah. Matthews said it is like those passengers who continued to believe in the success of the Titanic even as she was sinking.
Guess the tingles are gone.

via HuffungtonPost:
Obama’s Tipping Point The clever guys at the White House don’t realize they’ve hit their tipping point, they’re in for a rude awakening when that tsunami washes over them. They’re headed into the 30s in the polls and I don’t think they have any clue how to get out of there.

Change I Never Believed In
President Obama has taken a lot of heat lately over what many believe is his mismanagement of the economy and his inability to successfully take on his Republican opponents. Unlike millions of other Democrats, I am neither disappointed or surprised by his political failings. Prior to the 2008 election, and as an ardent supporter of Hillary Clinton, I wrote quite frequently about what I believed would be Obama’s inability to fight Republican obstructionism and the party’s fierce attack machine. Sadly, I was 100% right.

Democrats doubt Barack Obama’s reelection chances
President Barack Obama is facing mounting doubts within his own party about his re-election prospects, with fellow Democrats beginning to ask if Hillary Clinton would have made a better president.

2012 race ripe for third-party surprise, Carville says
For sheer tumult and unpredictability, the 2012 campaign may top them all, says James Carville.

Carville, of course, is the Democrat who masterminded Bill Clinton’s winning campaign in 1992. That race was hardly dull, with Ross Perot waging a competitive third-party bid and incumbent President George H.W. Bush losing office to the young upstart from Hope, Ark.

But Carville is bracing for a campaign season that defies much of what we know about American electoral politics.

“This is going to be the most tumultuous thing you can imagine,’’ Carville said in an interview Tuesday. “I wouldn’t be surprised if anything happens.’’

If you are a member of Facebook, sign this petition:
Draft Hillary Clinton to Replace Barack Obama as the 2012 Democratic Nominee for President

Hillary 2012: Democrats Find a New Target for Hope and ChangeBy Alex Moore Monday, August 08, 2011
The Daily Beast reports today that Democratic voters are abandoning the Obama “hope and change” boat in droves, and pining for what they perceive as the superior leadership potential of Hillary Clinton.
Bill Maher recently opined that in the wake the debt deal debacle and the accompanying US credit downgrade and stock market death spiral, that many Democrats might be experiencing a sense of buyer’s remorse for having fallen for Obama’s “hope and change” message in 2008.
Still dazed over the way Obama let his agenda get steamrolled by Republicans in both the Bush tax cut extensions and the latest disaster on the debt deal, Democrats are seeing the evidence in their bruised stock portfolios that their side was right all along, and wondering whether we’ve got the right guy on the job.
The Daily Beast cites Matthew Dickinson, political science professor at Middlebury, recalling Hillary’s admonishing “3am” campaign ad: “If I heard it once this last week, I heard it a thousand times: You were duped by Obama’s rhetoric—the whole ‘hopey-changey’ thing.”
:::snip:::
In the end the Hillary Clinton threat isn’t in whether she runs or not—it’s in how fervent the demand for her to run. The stronger that demand grows, the thinner the ice on which Obama skates.
As of today the Hillary 2012 Facebook Page only has 1,400 fans. We’ll have to keep an eye on the page to see how it grows as the market turmoil persists.

One Day To Draft Hillary” Facebook page: On Friday, August 12, join us in donating $20.12 each to HillaryClinton.com along with your email requesting that she run.

ONE DAY TO DRAFT HILLARY
Location: HillaryClinton.com
Time: ‎12:00AM Friday, August 12th
Personally, I’d send my contribution via the US Postal Service. Who knows what the ODNC is doing with Hillary’s website.
Friends of Hillary
1900 M Street, NW
Suite 500
Washington, DC 20036

Hillary’s 2008 Base Re-Emerges, And They’re Pissed
Visit this site and leave your ‘heartfelt’ comment.

Hillary Told You So
As Democratic disgust with Obama’s debt fumbling spreads, Clinton supporters recall her ’3 a.m. phone call’ warnings—and angry, frustrated liberals are muttering that she should mount a 2012 challenge.
At a New York political event last week, Republican and Democratic office-holders were all bemoaning President Obama’s handling of the debt-ceiling crisis when someone said, “Hillary would have been a better president.”
“Every single person nodded, including the Republicans,” reported one observer.
At a luncheon in the members’ dining room at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Saturday, a 64-year-old African-American from the Bronx was complaining about Obama’s ineffectiveness in dealing with the implacable hostility of congressional Republicans when an 80-year-old lawyer chimed in about the president’s unwillingness to stand up to his opponents. “I want to see blood on the floor,” she said grimly.
A 61-year-old white woman at the table nodded. “He never understood about the ‘vast right-wing conspiracy,’” she said.
Looking as if she were about to cry, an 83-year-old Obama supporter shook her head. “I’m so disappointed in him,” she said. “It’s true: Hillary is tougher.”

Hillary Clinton for president ad hits airwaves She has more experience working in and with the White House than most living presidents. She is one of the most admired women in our nation’s history. Let’s make sure the president we should have elected in 2008 will be on the ballot in 2012. Hillary 2012: Hillary Clinton for President. Start now. Where there’s a Hill there’s a way,” says an ad that began running on television in New Orleans Wednesday.

Anthony Weiner:
Politics and the Penis
Women were long considered unsuited for public office because hormones cloud their judgment—but men like Anthony Weiner are the ones who can’t think straight, says Leslie Bennetts. Just consider the evidence.
Jun 2011 3:24 PM EDT
Rep. Anthony Weiner had a successful career, an impressive wife and a bright future — until a technological misstep turned his penis oversharing into a national scandal. These days he’s got so much company it makes your head spin.
Men’s obsession with the male member has produced “a rash of penis photos” that led Jon Stewart to ask Kristin Schaal, The Daily Show’s “senior women’s issues correspondent,” what it all meant.

This phenomenon “can be chalked up to the age-old misconception that women want more information about your penis, and that seeing it will make you more attractive,” Schaal explained. “Men need to realize that their penis has far more power over them than it does over us.”
No kidding.

Glamour Interview with Secretary of State Hillary ClintonAugust 7, 2011
Hillary Rodham Clinton (yes, the Rodham’s back, in case you haven’t heard) is the most-traveled U.S. secretary of state ever—more than Condi, more than Kissinger—having, at press time, visited 85 countries and logged 582,002 miles in her two and a half years on the job. I joined her fast-paced trip to the Middle East and Africa this June, covering four countries in six days. Her mission: to further U.S. interests abroad, encourage democracy and development and, as always, to sound the alarm for equal rights for women.
“No country can thrive when half of its people are left behind,” Secretary Clinton says repeatedly during the trip. “If you don’t see all citizens get the rights and freedoms they deserve, you are on the wrong side of history.”

All the information you need on Hillary Clintons Presidential Campaign

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 21% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -21

The Untransformational President
Barack Obama hoped to elevate American politics. Instead, our politics may destroy his presidency.

In case you missed Donald Trump calling Obama CLUELESS on last night’s ON THE RECORD

My suggestion, PUMAs, is that we write to Madame Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, the DNC, and any person or political entity you can think of, and request, beg, plead, argue for her to primary Presdient Clueless. Write every day, twice a day…
Also, write and protest Newsweek’s photo and sexist characterization of Michelle Bachmann on their cover. Whether or not you support her political stances, please support women who have the “audacity” to campaign for political office, and defend them from sexist / misogynist attacks.

Please note that fauxgressive blogs are once again censoring (read: banning) commenters who suggest primary runs against Obama. So much for the boiz support of “democracy” and free speech.
Speaking of fauxgressives, the Obots are back to their old games. They are desparate. Meanwhile other obama supporters, athletic and otherwise, are wondering “wha… huh?”, what the heck happened to our messiah?? Brazille, Tingles Matthews, Maher, and many others are awaking from their boy-crush kool-aid induced oComa.

Also, the barbarians rioting in London are stopping women in the streets and demanding that they strip naked.

Boys will be boys, and that’s one of the primary reasons we need an experienced, brilliant, politically astute, feminist, principled adult in the White House. We need a President who recognizes that women make up 52% of the population. We need a powerful champion for women and girls. We need a woman in the White House, and that women is Ms. Hillary Clinton.
Do what you can, and keep on doing it, if not for (y)ourselves, then for our daughters, nieces, younger friends. Enough is enough already!

Obama said he wants to be re-elected so “I can finish my project”!
Obama: still Clueless.

Lara Logan is pictured in Cairo's Tahrir Square moments before she was assaulted in this photograph taken on February 11. Photo: Reuters

The chief foreign correspondent for CBS News was gang-raped in the middle of the day by an unnamed number of Egyptian men in Liberty Square, Cairo, during, wait for it, DEMOCRACY protests. Ah, Tahrir Square, the place now as hallowed in the brainwashed minds of the mostly male, wholly misogynistic progressive left as the Old North Bridge, the Gettysburgh battlefield, the Washington Mall on August 28, 1963, the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the Bastille prison as a sacred birthplace of real democracy for the oppressed.*

We, along with a small handful of blogs, have been warning for weeks: this doesn’t look too rosy for Egyptian women, and asking “Where the heck are the women??” on the streets of Egypt.

We quoted back then this little doozy of an observation from an article attempting to whitewash the absence of a real voice for women’s particular rights in a possibly newly democratic Middle East:

“Protests have a reputation for being dangerous for Egyptian women, whose common struggle as objects of sexual harassment is exacerbated in the male dominated crowds.”

Ok, then. Women, it doesn’t get much plainer than that: merely being present in a protest crowd in this most “secular” Islamic country is an invitation to sex harassment. Of course, those familiar with visiting, working, and living in Islamic countries know that harassment is actually a tame concern. They know that women on the street in Egypt or Iran or Saudi Arabia or Kabul are actually likely to be downright assaulted, even gang raped. As the chief foreign correspondent for CBS News now knows.

As bad as this is, and it IS very, very bad, what’s almost unspeakably intolerable is the reaction of the progressive left, especially those with political and foreign policy power. I speak of course of Nir Rosen, a professor of foreign policy at NYU and a fellow at the Center for Law and Security there. Last night he tweeted he was compelled to “find the humor” in the “small thing” that happened to the Chief Correspondent, as well as several other jaw-droppingly misogynistic comments in which he chortled at the whole scenario and reminded his readers that the Chief’s supposed bias in favor of US military actions in Af/Pak and Iraq makes what happened to her a lot less worse than what has been happening to the people of those regions.

Rosen has been allowed to resign his post at the CLC. He should have been fired. I’m blogging from work on a tablet and linking/researching is, let’s just say, limited, so I can’t readily look up where else this jackass works. If anyone can post any links or information about Rosen, as well as any of the other progressive rape apologists (paging Glenn Greenwald and Michael Moore), please post them in comments.

Sandress over at crawdad, along with several commenters, have been covering this all day and have lots of good links.

*The meaning and unremarked upon understanding of “the oppressed” in all of the above examples, with perhaps the exception of East Berlin, where communism at least offered the female half of the population legal equal rights under the law going all the way back to 1917, is that oppression only ever matters when it is done to men. Oppressed has always meant oppressed MEN in all political and social populist revolts.

Since many of today’s readers may be new to this site and ones like it, I’ll post a few links for background information on what’s been going on in the Democratic party and in the upper echelons of DC and the national media headquarters since at least 2005.

Hillary Clinton actually received MORE VOTES than obama in the Dem Primaries and Caucuses of 2008. Let that sink in. Every time you read or hear a media spokesperson refer to Clinton’s “bitter loss” or “incompetent campaign” or “hard-fought loss” to obama, please  click on this link to reassure yourself that YES, the media is shamelessly lying. Clinton did not suffer a “bitter loss.” She won for lord’s sake. What she did do, was finally throw in the towel on June 7, 2008 because she knew she couldn’t beat the DNC Machine. So she cut her losses and tried to salvage a worthy and valuable goal from the corrupt wreckage of the New Democratic Party, as shamefully redesigned by Axelrod, obama, Emanuel, Brazile, and Pelosi. That gang, with obama as their untouchable figurehead, tragically transformed the party of inclusive, idealistic, and all-American common sense liberalism into a Chicago style club of insider-only thugs who play disenfranchised groups off of each other, working only to keep us divided and hating each other so we’ll be distracted fighting for scraps from a government that no longer guarantees justice for all but instead payback with taxpayer cash for a few (and, yes, the “few” most certainly include the corporate interests that funded his campaign).

But not only did Clinton receive more votes; she also received them in a climate of corruption, intimidation, and blatant favoritism practiced by the media and the party referees; the Dem party  leadership and media honchos who had the hots for an obama presidency. In Nevada and Texas, the corruption and illegal activity by the obama campaign against Clinton voters at the polling places was so blatant and out of control that the Clinton Campaign officially registered a complaint with the DNC and requested an investigation into, among other things:

• Deliberately miscounted votes to favor Senator Obama.
• Deliberately counted unregistered persons as Obama votes.
• Deliberately counted young children as Obama votes.
• Refused to accept preference cards from Clinton supporters who were at the caucus site by noon on the ground that the cards were not filled out fast enough.
• Told Clinton supporters to leave prior to electing delegates.
• Clinton supporters who arrived late were turned away from the caucus, while late Obama supporters were admitted to the caucus.
• Obama supporters falsely informed Clinton supporters that no registration forms were available for them to register to vote at the caucus site.
• Obama supporters wrongly told Clinton supporters who were attempting to caucus at the wrong precinct that they could not caucus at that site, while simultaneously permitting Obama supporters at the wrong precinct to participate.
• Obama supporters were allowed to move to the front of the registration and sign-in line.
• Workers were informed that their supervisors kept lists of Clinton and Obama supporters, and were told that they could not caucus unless their name was on the list of Obama supporters.
• Many Clinton supporters were threatened with employment termination or other discipline if they caucused for Senator Clinton.
• Workers were required to sign a pledge card to support Obama if they wanted time off to participate in the caucus.
• Workers at one casino were offered a lavish lunch and permitted to attend and register to vote only if they agree to support Obama.

Apparently some pretty big media outlets are FINALLY starting to understand what we’ve been trying to explain for years. As Hillbuzz says, “It is never the crime, but the coverup that does these people in. Democrats never bothered to coverup the voter fraud because the Media never talked about it and too few Americans were ever interested in it.“

For those of us in the thick of things, paying attention, and screaming our heads off for what feels like forever to try to get the mainstream media to listen, two years feels like an eternity. But we said in June 2008, and again in November, and we say it almost every day: Pumas are in this for the long haul. We can’t rest, because every day new developments show just how right we were. New examples of obama incompetence make clear how we were right about how serious the consequences for our country and our democracy would be when the media cheerleaders facilitated the Emanuel-Axelrod-Dean Chicago style takeover of the Democratic National Committee.

Pumas Won’t Rest.

• Not until every underhanded and unfair decision by the DNC to tip the scales for one “historic” candidate in favor of another, equally historic and absurdly more qualified candidate is exposed.
• Not until the $259 MILLION dollars worth of campaign donations from UNDISCLOSED DONORS is accounted for. Where did all those tens of millions of dollars come from?
• Not until the thousands of letters, phone calls, and official complaints lodged by average, every day voters about the blatant and disturbing instances of obama campaign operatives stealing ballots, intimidating voters, locking polling places, closing polling places early, and lying about polling locations are investigated, prosecuted, and punished.

As we said to obama and his establishment enablers in the Party and in the media back in July 2008, almost two years ago to the day:

“You and your followers have nothing to offer but the sop of feel-good politics. Your only offering to the civic life of our nation is a sweet, cynical, shallow bribe. And your hands, which force that feel-good sop like a chloroform soaked rag on a complacent nation reach for nothing more noble than personal power, riches, and fame. Our candidate, a woman, was not only the most likely to win in November, she was also the most prepared to lead. She still is. You destroyed her candidacy and dismissed her voters.

To all the feminist leaders and writers out there, those who have lied themselves into believing they are more than just window-dressed cheerleaders for the Obama Movement, wake up!

The derailed candidacy of Hillary Clinton is a flashpoint that sparked a small war in the Democratic Party. For millions of us, this is the most significant feminist event in our lifetimes. But it is much more than that. It is a battle for the soul of the Democratic Party — a war between the forces of feel-good politics and the forces of do-good politics. We know which side we are on.

Do you?”

Every citizen who watches this video and learns about what really happened in 2008 needs to ask her or himself the same question: Which side am I on? You don’t “like” Hillary Clinton? Big whoop. You don’t “like” the Democratic Party, or the Republican Party, or CNN or Fox? Bigger whoop. This isn’t ABOUT Hillary Clinton. It isn’t about Glenn Beck or Ted Kennedy (well, actually it IS sort of about that jackass willing-to-bend-the-rules to get a proxy president for himself since he knew his chance was long gone). It’s about democracy and how the people who enforce the rules in a democracy must be held accountable by the organized and unified front of the single most important component of a government by the people: the Individual Voter. All American voters must be united against the sort of corruption and tyrannical acts undertaken by candidate Barack Obama and his campaign to win the presidency at all costs in 2008.

Spread the message around the internet. Post it on Gretawire, on Facebook, on Twitter. Don’t let this story die again.

Two Irish Women…..

             Two women were sitting next to each other at a bar. After a while one looks at the other and says, ‘I can’t help but think, from listening to you, that you’re from  Ireland .
The other woman responds proudly, ‘Yes, I sure  am!’
The first one says, ‘So am I! And where about in  Ireland are ya from ?
The other woman answers, ‘I’m from  Dublin , I am. 
The first one responds, ‘So, am I!! 

And what street did you live on in  Dublin ?’
The other woman says, ‘A lovely little area it was in the west end. I lived on  Warbury Street in the old central part of town.’
The first one says, ‘Faith and it’s a small world. So did I!  So did I!
 And what school did ya go to?’
The other woman answers, ‘Well now, I went to Holy Heart of Mary, of course.’ 
The first one gets really excited and says, ‘And so did I. Tell me,what year did you graduate?’
The other woman answers, ‘Well, now, let’s see. I graduated in 1964.’
The first woman exclaims, ‘The Good Lord must be smiling down upon us ! I can hardly believe our good luck at winding up in the same pub tonight.  Can you believe
 it, I graduated from Holy Heart of Mary in 1964 me self.
 
About this time, Michael walks into the bar, sits down and orders a beer. Brian, the bartender, walks over to Michael, shaking his head and mutters,
 ‘It’s going to be a long night tonight.’
Michael asks, ‘ Why do you say that, Brian?’
Brian answers, The Murphy twins are drunk again.’

h/t simofish via PUMA-SF at http://pumaeyes.wordpress.com/
————————-

PUMAs: ERA Alert!!
Florida has a vote possible,
one state that can make this possible,
one step closer to ratification.
PLEASE one state closer .
One week left.
Florida NOW  No Excuses !  

1) Florida’s House Speaker Larry Cretul plans to stop us in our tracks again: He’s refusing to hold a hearing on ERA’s HCR 8003.
You know that if HOUSE doesn’t hear ERA, SENATE won’t.
ERA NEEDS A VOTE IN COMMITTEES.
This is the EIGHTH YEAR the House has done this to us!
UNACCEPTABLE!

 RIGHT NOW–and for the next 2 weeks,  Speaker needs to get thousands of postal cards saying HOLD A HEARING (VOTE) ON HCR 8003, THE ERA.

Find his address and what to say (or give it your own “kick’) at http://www.RatifyERAflorida.net,  CLICK ON the “Postcarding” button at top of page for the whole enchilada!

2)  Clog his phones, too, unceasingly:
850 488-0887 (Tally),
352 873-6564 (Ocala),
352 955-6407 (Gainesville)

KEEP UP THE PRESSURE!!

h/t FLBARBABA

The Obama Campaign Finances: A Matter Under Review

by Headclunker, chair of the Puma PAC FECk Obama Team

Fully 34% of the donations received by the Obama Campaign were from Mystery Donors. That’s more than a THIRD OF THE TOTAL raised. By comparison, less than 3% of donations to Hillary Clinton’s campaign and John McCain’s campaign came from unverifiable sources. Three quarters of a billion dollars was spent on the Election Campaign  of  Barack Obama.  More than a year after the election and the Obama Presidential Campaign  has accounted for less than half a billion in contributions.  There are currently $259 million in campaign contributions listed as  “Unitemized Donors.” There have been 41 revisions made by the Obama campaign to the 19  campaign  finance reports due to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).  All of the campaign finance reports filed with the FEC during the  election  have been revised, some multiple times, and they still fail to give an  accurate accounting, showing obvious discrepancies and a lack of  compliance to campaign funding regulations, such as: Duplicate records, multiple variations in contributor names and  addresses, mixed contributor categories, negative contributions and millions in  over-limit donations remain listed in the FEC records.  Who will demand accountability? Not mandatory for candidates campaigning with private financing, an  audit  for cause is within the authority of the Federal Election Commission.  Yet there is no sign of any such action on their part. Americans must speak  for ourselves.  An active, open complaint is currently in progress at the FEC as Matter Under Review (MUR) 6142. This MUR was initiated in late 2008 and has been recently updated with issues of continued abuse of the federal campaign  >> finance regulations by the Obama Administration.

Find out more: http://www.MUR6142.com http://pumapac.org/forums/feck-obama-team/

We need to demand accountability of our elected officials!  Please support MUR 6142.

*  *  *  *  TODAY’S PROWL *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  TODAY’S PROWL *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  TODAY’S PROWL *  *  *  *

Copy and past the above into an email. Then simply copy and paste the following email addresses into the BCC line of an email, and press SEND. Voila! You have completed a Puma Pac PROWL!

Send your email to (formatted for PCs): prowl@pumapac.org; info@crp.org; CAC@theusconstitution.org; info@judicialwatch.org; hardball@msnbc.com; caffertyfile@cnn.com; comments@mclaughlin.com; Cavuto@foxnews.com;  hemmer@foxnews.com; headlinenews@cnn.com; Hannity@foxnews.com; gretawire@fox.com; writemalkin@gmail.com; elrushbo@eibnet.com; charlierose@pbs.org; staff@heritage.org; special@foxnews.com; info@crp.org; CAC@theusconstitution.org;info@judicialwatch.org;

(Formatted for Mac): prowl@pumapac.org, info@crp.org, CAC@theusconstitution.org, info@judicialwatch.org, hardball@msnbc.com, caffertyfile@cnn.com, comments@mclaughlin.com, Cavuto@foxnews.com,  hemmer@foxnews.com, headlinenews@cnn.com, Hannity@foxnews.com, gretawire@fox.com, writemalkin@gmail.com, elrushbo@eibnet.com, charlierose@pbs.org, staff@heritage.org, special@foxnews.com, info@crp.org, CAC@theusconstitution.org, info@judicialwatch.org,

An injured child is rescued in Haiti. More by clicking on the image.

Simply horrifying images and stories out of Haiti. A friend who worked for the State Department in Haiti in the 1970′s told me that in his experience CARE is the most effective aid organization. It is not connected to any religion or government, and started out as the organization that sent Care packages to Europeans facing starvation in the aftermath of World War II — that’s where the term Care Package comes from. My friend tells me that when he was putting together aid programs in Haiti, CARE was consistently the best at developing grants that most effectively used aid dollars to directly reach the people in need. We Pumas will not be surprised, though i AM pleased, to read part of their About Page:

“We place special focus on working alongside poor women because, equipped with the proper resources, women have the power to help whole families and entire communities escape poverty. Women are at the heart of CARE’s community-based efforts to improve basic education, prevent the spread of HIV, increase access to clean water and sanitation, expand economic opportunity and protect natural resources.”

Ten of its 24 Board members are women, not too shabby, and the director of the Haiti region is an amazing woman, Sophie Perez. Donate HERE now, even a $5 donation goes a LONG way in Haiti.

The William J. Clinton Foundation is also an excellent place to send your relief money. They have one of the best track records in the world for getting the most aid for the dollar to people and communities in need. (You may get timed out trying to click on the Clinton link — apparently hundreds of thousands of people are trying to help through his foundation, a stunning testament to his stature as an effective humanitarian. (Fuck you Halperin for maligning him as a racist.)

At the Secy Clinton blog, you can read an excellent update on Sec. Clinton’s role and plans for Haiti. She was on the Today Show this morning:

Isn’t it interesting that Bill and Hillary Clinton have emerged as THE most powerful and effective couple of leaders when disaster strikes? Barack and Michelle? Ehhh, not so much.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

MSNB(for Barack!)C is “Shocked, I tell you!” to learn that obama is as subject to the force of gravity as the rest of us. Sorry Mika! Here, have a cupcake; it will make you feel a lot better!.

** PROWL **

The median salary for a flight attendant in the United States is $55,000 a year. A typical flight attendant can expect to also pay about $7,000 a year out of her paycheck to buy health insurance for herself and her family. (and it will probably be craptacular health insurance at that, but I digress.)

The salary for a United States Senator is $174,000 a year. A United States Senator can expect to pay about $3,000 a year out of his paycheck to buy Federal health insurance for himself and his family. (and it is FABULOUS health insurance coverage at that.)

Charles Schumer is far from the richest member of Congress, but he’s still worth somewhere between $400k and $1,000,000. A lot more than your average flight attendant. So when Senator Charles Schumer calls a flight attendant a bitch for doing her job, that makes him a Class “A” JACKASS.

Let him know by contacting his office today. Copy and paste the message below and paste it into an email to Senator Jackass HERE (use this address on the web form: 60 Madison Avenue, Suite 1026 New York, NY 10010): http://schumer.senate.gov/new_website/contact.cfm

Dear Senator Schumer,

You may think you’re better than a lowly flight attendant who’s simply doing her job, but calling her a Bitch, makes YOU a Jackass!

Wake up — Americans are paying attention to the United States Senate, and we are REALLY LOOKING forward to seeing you ALL on the Unemployment Line with the rest of us peons ASAP!

Sincerely,

Your Name
Puma PAC Member

http://pumapac.org

**

In other news, via Nicholas Kristof, an excerpt from a new speech by Jimmy Carter.

“The truth is that male religious leaders have had – and still have – an option to interpret holy teachings either to exalt or subjugate women. They have, for their own selfish ends, overwhelmingly chosen the latter. Their continuing choice provides the foundation or justification for much of the pervasive persecution and abuse of women throughout the world. This is in clear violation not just of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but also the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul, Moses and the prophets, Muhammad, and founders of other great religions – all of whom have called for proper and equitable treatment of all the children of God. It is time we had the courage to challenge these views and set a new course that demands equal rights for women and men, girls and boys.”

What an odd phenomenon to watch these prominent men (like Kristof and Carter) who seem to be singly focused on ending, or at least protesting, women’s oppression. Remember Carter’s break from his church last summer? And Kristof appears to be genuinely devoted to this one cause. How unusual for a man, or men, to take on this issue on its own, and not as part of some other supposedly “larger” or more “universal” goal (like pacifism, or climate change, or HIV prevention). Far be it from me to spend more than a sentence or two praising their efforts, but I WILL note that they may be actually unique in the history of man(and I do mean MAN)kind.

In other news, I never fail to be mortified by the AWESOME BLOGS I forget to put in the blogroll. I know roofingbird as a sometimes commenter at The Confluence. I should have known by the brilliance, insight, and compassion of her comments that she is also a top notch blogger. Dang.

Also great are: Puma Eyes (that’s Puma -SF), lightpond, and  AfroCity Brown. Check them out. And do your Prowl. It’s good for you, like vegetables. And exercise.

Let there be more to your Christmas this year.

A remarkable young woman in an Indian slum who had done the unimaginable (for an “untouchable”) and graduated from college, came back to her hometown to visit. The local thug, who was leading gang-rapes and torture of the women in the village didnt like her uppity ways, so he and his gang surrounded her home, intending to kill her and her whole family. She frightened them by turning on the gas stove and threatening to explode them all if they tried to burn down her family’s hut. Villagers, amazed by her bravery, were emboldened and gathered around the thugs with sticks and stones. They ran away, but not for long. Usha knew a showdown was inevitable. She organized a clandestine campaign against Akku Yadav, which culminated in him being stabbed hundreds and hundreds of times by dozens of village women in the county courthouse. He was shredded when they were done with him. Begging for mercy at the end, he slowly bled to death. One of his signature tortures was to chop off women’s breasts after they were gang-raped, preferably in front of their children/family/neighbors.The women returned the sentiment and were sure to remove his penis long before he died.

So, instead of helping boys maintain their privilege, how about we help girls and women worldwide this holiday season? I’m partial to the Apne Ap group in India and will be sending my gift cards there. They welcome volunteers by the way, if you are itching to take an extended vacay from the good ole USA. An excellent selection to choose from here :

http://www.halftheskymovement.org/get-involved

(h/t FLBarbara)

One very gratifying aspect to helping international aid organizations is that a little bit of money goes a LOOONG way (and the unspeakable horror so many international women and girls face is, well, unspeakable. But, just the same, I kind of want to help American women and their children as well. FLBarbara and others, can you help us out with links, ideas, resources, about where we can be of best help to American women?