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Aug
31
Bringing Back Feminism at its Finest
As you may have noticed, Feminism at its Finest was missing for a month. I was thinking of scrapping it all together but decided against it, which I bet makes a few of the dedicated submitters quite happy.
I will be accepting submissions for the next Feminism at its Finest roundup which will be posted September 30 so go submit your feminist posts!
Aug
31
Help Teddy Tour Help Survivors
I have written about the amazing work Teddy Tour does and the amount of childhood sexual assault survivors they help here before. Teddy Tour gives childhood sexual assault survivors some much-needed freedom and support by letting them fill out some info about their abuse, attach their info to a teddy bear or other stuffed animal and picturing it for their website giving other survivors and supporters of survivors the chance to read about their experiences and lets the survivor’s voice be heard and not simply forgotten. After the teddy is pictured for the website it is then sold to raise funds for survivor’s counseling and group work. All proceeds that are raised by Teddy Tour go straight to helping survivors of childhood sexual assault.
Teddy Tours ensures that the voices of so many survivors do not go unheard; every survivor deserves the right to tell their story and get their experiences off of their chests and the work Teddy Tour does to make this possible is amazing. I have filled out a tag for myself and my very own teddy in the Teddy Tour population that will be sold for proceeds to help other survivors and if you are also a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, feel free to ensure that your voice does not go unheard and fill out your very own tag. Please note that all identifying information is kept secret and that your privacy is important.
So with all of the hard work Teddy Tour puts in for survivors they are asking for a little help along the way from survivors and supporters of survivors who wish to see that no voice goes unheard. Teddy Tour is in need of new teddies and asks that if you find yourself in a position of being able to donate a teddy or two to them, your donation would be lovingly received.
If you would like to donate a teddy or two, (sewn, knitted or crocheted) please send them to:
Teddy Tour, 30 James St, North Cairns, Queensland, 4870, Australia.
If you can’t donate a teddy but still want to help Teddy Tour out, they are also accepting donations of $5 which you can send here.
Aug
30
And She Did So Much While Pregnant! Right?
I wasn’t going to touch upon this, however, I read a good amount of conservative blogs and talk to a great deal of conservatives. I hold nothing against them, I believe that one must challenge their world views and without doing so, you will never know what you truly believe or how deeply you believe in something until you open your mind to the other side. You truly find yourself when you accept criticism and have in depth conversations with someone whom you may not agree with; it is when you do this that you truly understand who you are and what you stand for. With that being said, quite a few Republicans are rejoicing over McCain’s VP pick of Sarah Palin; moreover, they are repeatedly shoving the phrase “feminist role model” down the throats of their readers and boasting that she is a great advocate for “traditional family values” and pro-life policies as she gave birth to a son last April who was diagnosed with Down Syndrome; not only that, but she stayed in office as a working governor while pregnant and didn’t even announce that she was pregnant until March 6.
First of all, I do not believe that a woman giving birth to a child with Down Syndrome and choosing not to abort said child when she found out about his disability is hardly a focus point on her politics. As an anti-choice candidate, she has created a pro-life record by standing up against a woman’s right to choose by using such phrases as “It’s not a choice, it’s a child,” which many pro-lifers yell, scream and carry on about during protests and harassing women outside of Planned Parenthood clinics. Using her politics, her son is a child and he was not a choice and yet her son is the first (or close second) thing people bring up when defending her as a candidate saying that it was her choice to give birth to a child with Down Syndrome; this point has also come up in the comments in my last post on Palin. People are very quick to throw that her birth to a child with special needs is a choice, but isn’t that what pro-lifers spend their hours trying to convince us is not the case? (Cara at The Curvature has a more in depth post on this specifically that you should check out)
As I stated in what I’m calling my obligatory Sarah Palin post, Palin is against reproductive rights and believes that abortion starts with contraception. Frankly, Palin is a traditional believer in not having sex until you’re married and ready to begin baby-making. That is all well and good and also fool proof in roping the pro-life voters who weren’t going to vote for McCain at first; but perhaps if her abstinence-only values and pro-life policies were concrete they would work, however as the hours tick by, more and more dirty laundry on Palin is surfacing.
We met Palin’s family at the McCain/Palin rally in Dayton Ohio; we were introduced to her children, Piper, 5; Willow, 12; Bristol, 16; Track, 17. Also amongst the clan was the newest member of the family, Trig, born last April.
Palin did not tell anyone outside of her family about her pregnancy until she was 8 months pregnant and even at 8 months, she did not resemble a woman with child; as Palin is a very slim and slender woman, a pregnancy would have been abundantly apparent. Alaskan media did comment on this, yet their speculations went no further.
Months before Palin’s birth announcement, Bristol Palin, 16, became ill with mononucleosis (mono) and had to leave school. Mono typically lasts between 2 weeks and 3 months and that is if it is a particularly horrendous and threatening case, but Bristol was out of school for 5 to 8 months, ironically this took place at the same time Sarah Palin was pregnant with Trig.
A pregnant Palin, wardrobe still fitting, her physique remaining the same in February, went hiking. A video was released where Palin said:
[5 minutes 55 seconds into the video]
…”I like running the hills, it kills me, that’s why I like it, I mean it thrashes your guts and your lungs and your thighs…”
Now I don’t believe that is something that should come from a pregnant woman’s mouth.
Rumors ran rampant through Bristol’s school while several of her classmates accounted that Bristol was gaining a significant amount of weight and appeared to be pregnant when she abruptly left school.
Sarah Palin went into labor while in Dallas, Texas just before she was schedule to deliver a keynote address at the Republican Governors’ Energy Conference. Palin, instead of checking into a hospital, delivered the keynote speech. She said:
“I was not going to miss that speech,” she says.
She rushed so quickly from the podium afterwards that Texas Gov. Rick Perry nervously asked if she was about to deliver the baby then.
Instead of checking into a hospital after supposed hours of leaking amniotic fluid, Palin then made the very bold move of flying while in labor to Alaska so Trig would be born “an Alaskan.” Palin is obviously wonder woman since she was said to be in labor during the entire 8 hour flight and was said to be extremely pleasant to flight attendants who oddly were not even aware that the woman was pregnant, never mind in labor.
As most of you may know, airlines typically have strict rules regarding women who wish to fly while more than 7 months pregnant. Palin said that it was through the birth of her four previous children that she became comfortable with the signs of active labor and did not feel that she or the baby were in any form of danger by boarding the flight.
I find it rather peculiar how a woman can be eight moths pregnant and deliver a 6.2lb child and no one can even notice the woman is pregnant. Palin then returned to work after three days. I understand that middle-class citizens may have no choice but to return to work, not being able to afford to take time off even after a child is born, but obviously Palin and her big oil-working husband are well equipped to take a little time off to enjoy their newborn, right? Why would any woman want to separate from her newborn child who has special needs to be taken care of after just three days?
Well, because Sarah Palin was not pregnant, Bristol Palin, her 16 year old daughter, was. Mono is a common excuse used in “respectable” families and Catholic school systems as to why teenage girls must be taken out of school when they are really pregnant. The same thing is still happening today.
Yes, Trig was born with Down Syndrome and while this occurs with newborn babies of older women, such as Sarah Palin, the same also occurs in cases of very young women, which Bristol is.
Pictures of the family, the Bristol bump and the lack of Sarah bump after the jump.
Aug
30
Sarah Palin is Not a Feminist
I woke up yesterday and by the time I was awake for 11 minutes I felt like I had been punched in the gut several times after reading on several conservative blogs how Sarah Palin, McCain’s VP pick, is such a great feminist role model. After doing some research on this woman whom I’ve never even heard of before it became abundantly clear–Not only is Sarah Palin not a feminist, she is as anti-woman as Bush and McCain combined. That is the reason why McCain picked her; not because she is a woman and he wanted to be underhanded (which he totally did,) but because she’s a Republican, conservative man who just happens to be in a woman’s body.
Feminism means to stand up for human rights; it means to stand up for equality and the freedoms and liberties of people and Sarah Palin is disgustingly right wing, anti-choice and has no record of representing women’s interests; though her record in general is quite minuscule.
So here are some things you should know about Sarah Palin–The woman vice presidential candidate with strong, anti-woman policies.
Palin is adamantly opposed to reproductive rights. She opposes abortion including in cases of rape and incest. She opposes birth control, emergency contraception and just like McCain, is all about abstinence-only education. Basically, she agrees with McCain regarding all forms of sexuality and wants to tell people everywhere that if they have sex, that woman better be damn ready to squeeze out that baby in 9 months. A McCain/Palin regime for women would look eerily similar to this.
Palin has absolutely no federal or international experience whatsoever. Prior to being the governor of Alaska for less than two years, (I can’t believe she and Mike Gravel actually share a state) she was the mayor of a small town made up of around 6,000 people. Before that, she was a beauty queen. (Is McCain looking for a new mistress? A third wife, perhaps?)
I found it oddly peculiar how the Republicans who were bashing Obama about not having enough experience are fully supporting a McCain/Palin ticket when Palin has no experience at all.
Palin strongly supports big oil. Hell, not only does she support it, she’s profiting from it with her husband working for an oil company. A McCain/Palin ticket would mean just more of the same when it comes to going after countries for their oil–They both make a killing from it and us meager, middle class Americans can just keep enlisting in the military and having our lives taken away from us in vain to support the wallets of these people. Oh, did I mention she’s 100% pro-war? Yeah…no surprise.
She believes that global warming is not only not man-made, but is a total farce and goes as far as to being opposed to listing the polar bear on the endangered species list. But that isn’t her only anti-animal policy; she also supports aerial shooting of bears and wolves in Alaska.
She is in favor of public schools teaching abstinence-only education (Alaska is currently considering spending more on abstinence-only sex education) and creationism. I can see the syllabus…”Yes, a man in the sky made you and he says not to have sex until you’re married no matter what. Got it? And if you are raped, even if you’re raped by a member of your family and become pregnant you will have that baby!”
When it comes to other issues of women, such as equal pay for equal work, she is following McCain’s lead and isn’t even on the record.
Palin has went on the record, however, with how she feels about LGBT rights:
“[...] she’s not out to judge anyone and has good friends who are gay, but that she supported the 1998 constitutional amendment.
Elected officials can’t defy the court when it comes to how rights are applied, she said, but she would support a ballot question that would deny benefits to homosexual couples.
“I believe that honoring the family structure is that important,” Palin said.
She said she doesn’t know if people choose to be gay.
“But, but, but…I have gay friends!” Come on. And why hasn’t she asked these said gay friends if they chose to be gay? For the record: No, people do not choose to be gay and if they did, who do you think would choose to be denied basic, human rights and be discriminated against to such a degree? There are the cases of Brandon Teena, Matthew Shepard and so many others who have been brutally attacked and killed for nothing other than the fact that they happened to be gay. Who would choose to be the target for hate crimes? Yeah, I don’t think so.
Best of all, Palin has already managed to get herself involved in a scandal:
A legislative investigation is looking into allegations that Palin fired Alaska’s public safety commissioner because he refused to fire the governor’s former brother-in-law, a state trooper.
Palin acknowledged that a member of her staff made a call to a trooper in which the staffer suggested he was speaking for the governor.
Palin has admitted that the call could be interpreted as pressure to fire state trooper Mike Wooten, who was locked in a child-custody battle with Palin’s sister.
This is a direct abuse of power on her part and I don’t want to see what else she is capable of if she ever saw the white house.
Sarah Palin stands for everything Hillary Clinton is against so please, Hillary supporters, do not be fooled.
Aug
30
CodePink Protester Attacked at DNC
I saw this early yesterday morning and am still angry (well, angry doesn’t really cover it; it’s more like seething) disgusted and thoroughly sickened by this.
A few days ago at the Democratic National Convention, a CodePink protester was the victim of obscene police brutality as she was shoved to the ground with a baton of a police officer with excessive force while the police officer yelled “back it up, bitch.” While talking to reporters about how she (and other protesters) were treated during the protest, the cop then went over to her, grabbed her by the arm and violently pulled her away from the reporters.
The CodePink protester, Alicia Forrest, 24, of Los Angeles, was arrested on charges of “interference.” But what is this interference they speak of? Forrest had allegedly witnessed the arrest of an unidentified man in the street near the Denver Civic Center Park when she and others nearby asked police why the man was being arrested. So one man gets arrested for obviously nothing, since officers were being asked why the man was being arrested and because of this they also get arrested. Yeah, that makes perfect sense to me!
Forrest was transferred to the Denver City Jail where bond was posted for $580 bail and was held for the night. After getting out of jail, Forrest said this:
“I was standing up for my free speech rights, showing support for a fellow activist,” Forrest said. “If anything, this showed me how powerful standing up for your beliefs can be, and how necessary it is for the truth to get out even in the face of resistance.”
CODEPINK co-founder Jodie Evans called watching the video footage distressing.
“Here we are CODEPINK activists, here to deliver the message of peace, and how ironic that we would witness the exact violence we oppose,” Evans said. “How is it that a Denver cop would be afraid of a peace activist with a pink crown on her head? What have we become?”
The video of the violence against Forrest and her arrest are below, but I wouldn’t recommend going to the YouTube page to read the comments–They are full of sexism and misogyny and very triggering.
Who else thinks it’s kind of ironic that I was listening to the song What’s Going On when I was reading about this and again when I started writing it?
Picket lines and picket signs
Don’t punish me with brutality
Talk to me, so you can see
What’s going on
Aug
30
Mexico Supreme Court Upholds Mexico City Abortion Law
In the capital of the world’s second-largest Roman Catholic country, in an 8 to 3 vote, the Mexico Supreme Court upheld the Mexico City abortion law on August 27.
Mexico City previously allowed abortion only in cases of rape, if the woman’s life was at risk or if there were signs of severe defects in the fetus; it is now legal for women to seek abortions in the first trimester. (12 weeks) And because we wouldn’t expect any less, especially from the world’s second-largest Roman Catholic country, opponents of the abortion law have said they will challenge it in the courts.
This is awesome news because to date, it has been reported that many rape victims in Mexico are denied abortions because of speculation. There are an estimated 200,000 illegal abortions in Mexico each year causing the untimely deaths of approximately 1,500 women due to botched operations performed in unhygienic backstreet clinics.
As far as other “controversial” laws in Mexico, Mexico City recently voted to allow same-sex civil unions and is currently considering legalizing euthanasia.
Aug
28
The 7 Year Old Terrorist
This apparently is the face of a terrorist, but as you’ve probably guessed already, the FBI and airport security can’t wrap their minds around it, either.
When this boy, John Anderson (who goes by Jack), was just two years old, his family was told by airport security that he could not fly on a plane to take a trip to Disney World because he was on the terrorist watch list. Two years later, the family was stopped again by airport security over the exact, same thing.
Obviously a database that was created merely to put American citizens in a constant state of fear so we submit to government ruling a lot more tame than we would normally, is doing something a little wrong to make a red flag go up when a two year old is brought to an airport and security won’t let him fly because who knows if he has relations with Al Queda.
Because the database, made by the FBI after the September 11th attack and a Government Accountability Office report said the watch list “enhanced U.S. counter-terrorism efforts.” Yes, it definitely enhances U.S. counter-terrorism efforts…by assuming we all must be terrorists. Okay, not all of us, just 400,000 of us. With 400,000 people on this watch list, I am willing to bet that there are many people who are either too young to be considered “terrorist threats,” which was the case here, or people who have no reason to be placed on such a list to begin with.
Five years after finding out this little boy was considered a terrorist, since he was not promptly removed the first time the family was stopped at the airport, it makes me very weary of the integrity of the list (obviously) and also of how well this list is being monitored. It seems as soon as a “Bob Smith” is added, no Bob Smith in America is allowed to cross a border or board a flight and the wrong combination of factors are coming up within this list that really does affect more than just 400,000 singular people who may or may not be considered a threat to America. This list affects 400,000 names that affect most people with that name. There needs to be a better way to go about doing something like this, since we obviously can do very little from stopping the government from taking our rights and liberties we like to say that we have from right under our feet. This is no longer a case of conservatives being able to say “Well if you don’t have anything to hide then it is perfectly fine for the government to spy on you using every form of technology in existence.” It is now a case of everyone being affected by a corrupt, sneaky and malicious government that like I said earlier, it is making its citizens live in a constant state of fear.
Terrorists are the new Satan–”Don’t do that, you’ll go to hell!” is so easily translated to “Don’t do that, don’t say that, don’t talk to that person because they will think you’re a terrorist.” It’s the newest form of brainwashing while the government slowly shifts us into a totalitarian government. Terrorism is the new “red scare,” nothing more and just like then, no one is safe.
Aug
28
The Word Allegedly…
Really pisses me off. I don’t know about you, but every time I read an article about sexual assault in one form or another, the word allegedly just pops up like it’s normal. Well I’ve got to tell you–It isn’t. It isn’t normal at all. The word allegedly, specifically in most articles on this topic seem to give me the impression that the entire ordeal is being mocked; that it could have happened, the woman said it happened, but did it really?
But now I think I’ve seen the word allegedly and let it go for the last time after seeing this:
Blood present in the toilet, hospital, doctors…Doesn’t sound like a time to use the word ‘allegedly.’ Sure, it’s in the context to make you wonder if the father actually did it, but I’m willing to bet that yeah, he’s the one who did it since it’s been said that approximately 80% rape and sexual assault that happens to a child is done by a parent, someone in their family, or someone that is very close to them that they trust. Something tells me that a 4 year old doesn’t have many people in their lives that they are extremely close to and trust other than their own family.
I know that Current simply copied and pasted the story shown on their site about this from the original article, so in that case, you, right here, stop using the word allegedly, it isn’t cool. All you other publications out there doing the same thing–The same goes for you!
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