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Sep
18
Vote for Change: Get Out and Vote!
Have questions about voting this election season? Has it been so long since you’ve last voted that you don’t even know if you’re registered to vote anymore? Feministe has answered a lot of questions out there and also touch base on what is arising now that will keep voters from voting.
While the Obama campaign challenges election schemes like that in Michigan, where voters who have lost their homes to foreclosure are being purged from the registration rolls, technical issues like voter database glitches are feared to disenfranchise thousands. With dirty politics that affected the Florida vote in 2000, like purging people from the registered voter list who matched only 80-90% of the information recorded for a convicted felon, many people were turned away from the polls who were legitimately registered in their districts. These tactics have been shown to disproportionately affect minority voters, and in the Florida case, black Americans accounted for 88% of those removed from the rolls even though they only comprise 11% of all voters in the state.
With all the shit that is going down trying to keep voters from voting, completely disregarding the whole democracy thing America likes to enforce on other territories, the biggest thing that we can do now is vote–Or try to, at least.
Vote for Change can tell you if you are already registered to vote and if not, lets you download a voting registration document that must be sent in by October 6th. Time is running out, so make sure you are registered and that you get out and vote. It is the only way for us to get out there and tell the candidates who we want in the white house. Don’t listen to the media or vote simply for who your spouse or roommate wants you to vote for–Get informed and make an informed decision. Here are the candidates on the issues–McCain / Obama. Plus, I’ve talked a great deal about John McCain on the issues so you can check those out here.
Sep
15
Obama’s Record on Protection Against Sexual Assault
The McCain campaign recently put out a disgraceful and dishonest ad against Obama when it comes to protecting children from sexual assault. The campaign ad claims Obama’s “one accomplishment” in the area of education was “legislation to teach ‘comprehensive sex education’ to kindergarteners.”
Announcer: Education Week says Obama “hasn’t made a significant mark on education.” That he’s “elusive” on accountability. “A staunch defender of the existing public school monopoly.” Obama’s one accomplishment? Legislation to teach “comprehensive sex education” to kindergarteners. Learning about sex before learning to read? Barack Obama. Wrong on education. Wrong for your family.
John McCain: I’m John McCain and I approved this message.
While the bill Obama supports does include the term “comprehensive sex education,” that is about all the McCain campaign got right. What this ad did was pick a quote to use against Obama to scare the voting population into thinking Obama supports five year olds being taught about sex, which is completely wrong.
The bill in question called for all sex education course materials to include information that would help students recognize, among other activities, inappropriate touching, sexual assault and rape:
Course material and instruction shall discuss and provide
for the development of positive communication skills to maintain healthy relationships and avoid unwanted sexual activity. … Course material and instruction shall teach pupils … how to say no to unwanted sexual advances … and shall include information about verbal, physical, and visual sexual harassment, including without limitation nonconsensual sexual advances, nonconsensual physical sexual contact, and rape by an acquaintance. The course material and instruction shall contain methods of preventing sexual assault by an acquaintance, including exercising good judgment and avoiding behavior that impairs one’s judgment.
This bill passed in the Health and Human Services Committee with Democrats; however, the measure died while in the Senate and since 2005, no action has been taken on it. The reason I believe that this happened is because people, such as McCain, understand the bill as “teaching sex education to five year olds” and not teaching five year olds the difference between someone showing them affection and mistaking that affection as love when that acquaintance (or family member) is sexually abusing that child. As it stands now, it is up to the parents to educate their children about inappropriate touching and behavior and what is dramatically wrong with that is that the parents (or parent) themselves could be the very people abusing that child. Children need to be taught the difference between affection and abuse and right now, there is no other way for children to learn the difference other than from their parents.
In a debate with Republican Alan Keyes for an open seat in the U.S. Senate in 2004 Obama clarified the reasoning behind this bill and why it was important:
Keyes, Oct. 21, 2004: Well, I had noticed that, in your voting, you had voted, at one point, that sex education should begin in kindergarten, and you justified it by saying that it would be “age-appropriate” sex education. [It] made me wonder just exactly what you think is “age-appropriate.”
Obama: We have a existing law that mandates sex education in the schools. We want to make sure that it’s medically accurate and age-appropriate. Now, I’ll give you an example, because I have a six-year-old daughter and a three-year-old daughter, and one of the things my wife and I talked to our daughter about is the possibility of somebody touching them inappropriately, and what that might mean. And that was included specifically in the law, so that kindergarteners are able to exercise some possible protection against abuse, because I have family members as well as friends who suffered abuse at that age. So, that’s the kind of stuff that I was talking about in that piece of legislation.
I do not understand why anyone would have a problem with this bill except for them believing that either sexual assault doesn’t exist within children or doesn’t exist at all. On both accounts, these people would be sadly mistaken.
As a person who was sexually abused repeatedly throughout my childhood, I wish that someone had informed me about the difference between affection and abuse. The “stranger danger” talk does not work and it never has; you can tell your children to be weary of the creepy man down the street but how do they know what is happening when it’s their grandparents, uncles, aunts, fathers and even mothers? They don’t and that is the reason why it took me nearly a decade to utter a word about my abuse and no one should ever have to go through that–Ever.
Barack Obama’s record on protection against sexual assault is stellar:
- Obama Passed The Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Database Act of 2005.
- Obama Passed A Bill To Protect Children From Known Sex Offenders.
- Obama Passed Law Expanding Rights Of Alleged Victims of Sexual Assault.
- Obama Passed A Law To Make Administering A Date Rape Drug Aggravated Battery As Well As An Aggravating Offense To Criminal Sexual Assault.
- Obama Passed A Law to Expand the Definitions of “Sex Offender” and “Sex Offense” and Mandate Offender Disclosure.
- Obama Passed Law to Require EMS For Sexual Assault Survivors To Include Coverage For Emergency Contraception.
- Obama Passed a Bill Eliminating Good Behavior Time For Sex Offenders.
- Obama Passed Law to Extend Statute Of Limitations On Certain Sexual Offenses.
- Obama Sponsored Illinois Senate Version Of The Bill That Would Seal Sexual Assault Victim’s Records.
Sep
12
Sarah Palin: The Executive, The Superhero and The School Girl
Sarah Palin is following a great deal of other politicians including Barack Obama and John McCain with the new series of Sarah Palin action figures.
For $27.95 you can get your very own Sarah Palin action figure to do whatever you’d like with but for just $2 more you can get the Britney Spears-like (we’re talking Baby One More Time style here, not crazy, shave your head and get committed Britney Spears) “school girl” doll that even includes white thigh highs and red bra poking out of a white shirt. And because Hero Builders are very uninspired here and are in the “make a quick buck” business, not only did they copy Britney Spears here, but you can also get yourself a Palin superhero action figure with one of Lara Croft’s outfits! All Palin dolls come with the same, super creepy Palin face.
They probably should have done a little more with the face and should have been a little more inspired with the style of the dolls since they look more like miniature sex dolls than anything else with the “school girl” doll, but Hero Builders is simply trying to cash in off of Palin mania that has been sweeping through the right wing.
Jessica over at Feministing said it best with:
So Hillary gets a nutcracker and Palin gets a schoolgirl outfit - obviously both of these come from a place of fear of women’s power. With Hillary, just call her a ballbuster; Palin, just sexify her so she’s not a threat but just another hot chick to look at. Either way, blech.
Sep
1
Dirty Old Man
This is absolutely disgusting and inexcusable.
I have made it abundantly clear that no, I don’t like John McCain; I can’t even stomach imagining what a McCain regime would look like. With that and also given the fact that if you spend more than 2.3 milliseconds on this site you will come to realize that no, I am not a fan of Sarah Palin either. However, even with that being said, no man has the right to ogle the breasts of a woman; especially if that man is married and especially if that woman happens to be your choice as a running mate for the highest form of office in your country.
When it comes to the psychology of men, no one truly understands it as well as women and when a man fiddles with his wedding ring? Yeah, that isn’t nervousness and I doubt the man is looking down at Palin’s hands, either. When a man fiddles with his wedding ring he is reminding himself that no, he can’t, he’s married and needs to be respectful! Well he is issued one hell of a big fail on the whole “being respectful” spectrum and yes McCain, you are indeed married and I doubt now is the time to go on the hunt looking for your third wife.
To cover my ass a bit here–Why am I posting this? Why do I care about how Sarah Palin is treated? Well, Melissa at Shakesville hit the nail on the head–Because sexism hurts all women. Sure, Palin can most likely defend herself here and doesn’t need the help from me or other bloggers out there, but sexism is abundant, especially when family issues are becoming political issues. Especially when even the Democratic vice presidential candidate feels the need to quip about the attractiveness of the Republican vice presidential candidate. Especially when a website named VPILF exists (although she did pose in a pink shirt with the letters written across them; just sayin’…) Especially when every single comment on any blog writing about her nomination in an unbiased or Republican-bias tone, mentions something about her looks and also how men will be voting Republican this year so they can look at Palin more. Especially since I have done the same for Michelle Obama. Especially, especially, especially since the person who is treating Sarah as an object here is the same man who put her up for potential presidency.
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.
Jul
23
Missing My ‘Don’t Taze Me, Bro’ Moment
It’s been way too long since I’ve had the time to sit down at the computer for more than a few minutes or haven’t been too overwhelmed with work that needed to be done for other people, so yet again, Menstrual Poetry has been neglected and for far longer than I had expected or anticipated for. To those who still visit, thank you, I love you and for those who have given up on Menstrual Poetry, well you won’t be reading this anyway so it’s all good.
I received an email last night from a friend of mine telling me that McCain was going to be doing a Town Hall Meeting only about an hour and a half away from where I live. Of course, as you can expect from a lot of the posts to grace this website, I was more than excited thinking of the possibility to be able to not only attend and see this hypocritical misogynist in person and know the truth about whatever he chose to speak about but to also ask a question of my own. Of course, this friend who had emailed me had only heard rumors that he would be in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania and didn’t know exactly when this would happen and gave me the email address of someone who was spreading the word about the meeting. I emailed this person and got a response this morning and it just so happened to be a few hours before McCain was scheduled to speak and I ended up waking up to receive this email a half hour after he was supposed to go on stage. Just my luck! I missed my opportunity to see this poor excuse for a presidential candidate and I missed my opportunity to ask him a question.
I turned the television on and luckily, the local news was covering the town hall meeting so I was able to watch it on television. By the end of the meeting, I was beyond disappointed. He accepted questions from the audience and all the audience could think to ask him was about the war in Iraq, what’s going on with Israel, social security, education and No Child Left Behind and not one question on women’s rights or even women in general! I obviously needed to be at this meeting and was probably a little more disappointed than I should have been. Just watching it on television, I was yelling at the television screen more than a few times when he repeatedly contradicted himself and fed the public lies about the war and No Child Left Behind, so who knows what would have happened if I were to actually be there. Furthermore, I really wonder what would have happened if I did have the opportunity to ask a question.
After finding out about the meeting, I immediately went onto Plurk, which I am on a lot so if you want an awesome social networking site that is kind of like Twitter but actually works and is so much better, I recommend you join, and while talking with a friend of mine, calinazaret, I knew what question I wanted to ask:
Given your horrendous voting record on women’s rights, how do you expect women to be able to support you as a presidential candidate?
What was very interesting about this meeting was that he was giving people the opportunity to have a mini-debate with him. Two people had opposing views on the Iraq war and so they were able to go back and forth two or three times with McCain about his policies, what he would do if by some miracle he were elected into the presidency, and what he believes needs to be done to change what’s happening now, and thinking about my question and what McCain’s prior reactions to any question involving women’s rights, I wonder…Did I miss my ‘Don’t taze me, bro‘ moment?
Jul
12
I Certainly Don’t Wanna Discuss that Issue–Birth Control or Women
McCain was recently answering questions when something he hadn’t expected happened–Someone asked about the fact that many health care providers will cover Viagra but refuse to cover birth control. Apparently a man’s ability to get it up and have sex is great, just as long as the woman isn’t using birth control and exercising her right to safe sex.
Before the woman even finished asking the question, as soon as McCain heard the words birth control, he said that he certainly didn’t want to discuss that issue and hadn’t given the issue much thought at all. The woman then reminds him of the fact that he voted against a bill that would cover birth control on health care plans. The following video is of John McCain’s reaction to the question and how it took him over 2 minutes and a lot of awkward laughing to say that he had absolutely no idea how he voted, what he thinks about granting women the right to get birth control covered on their health care plans and really, that he doesn’t really give birth control or women, for that matter, much thought at all.
Glad he thinks it’s so funny.
Via Bitch Ph.D.
On a related note, I urge you to check out Feministing’s latest Friday Feminist Fuck You by Ann who covers another bill John McCain voted against because it would have benefited women and he’s a complete misogynist. But if you asked him about it, he would probably tell you he couldn’t remember.
Jul
9
We Know McCain=Bush, So What’s the Problem?
Two days ago, a 61 year old librarian was escorted from a public McCain campaign event at the Denver Center of Performing Arts in Denver, CO. What was this woman doing wrong to get her not only escorted off of city property she had every right to be on, but also served with a court date (July 23, for those interested) for trespassing? Letting everyone know that McCain=Bush; but that was already common knowledge, wasn’t it? I don’t see the problem here and just as I thought–There really wasn’t one.
As a presidential candidate who has voted with bush 95% of the time in 2007 and 100% of the time in 2008 and who had even celebrated his last birthday with George Bush himself (Did I mention this was during hurricane Katrina? You know, the disaster that John McCain had said he would have landed his plane at the nearest Air Force base to help personally but didn’t because well, he was celebrating the day of his birth with George Bush! Yeah.) anyone can see that these politicians are buddies who agree on the issues. John McCain uses Bush’s agenda in his own presidential campaign speeches and agenda, he has built his politician standing on the same elements Bush had–So while it is obvious that McCain would indeed be another Bush, what’s the problem?
This woman was spot on in the end of the video when she asked who her sign would offend. It is a warning to liberals and democrats who refuse to accept another Bush in office and it is also a positive message to republicans and conservatives who had voted for Bush themselves the first(? and second?) times anyway.
This just shows yet another thing McCain has in common with Bush, since in 2005, the White House had three activists expelled from a Denver public forum with President Bush because it was the administration’s policy “to exclude potentially disruptive guests from Bush’s appearances nationwide.”
Politicians, just taking away your first amendment rights one event at a time. Heil America!
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