What a Week It's Been...

I think the headlines of the past week or so have been enough to make anyone's head spin. The whole stink made over Akin's comments, the information about the bill that Paul Ryan sponsored with Akin which I (and a few others) view as a rapist's bill of rights, the hurricane headed toward Florida that has changed direction and is now headed toward my beloved New Orleans just in time for the seventh anniversary of Katrina (Yes, for anyone who doesn't know...I am obsessed with that city. It's like the city of my soul...the place I have always felt I belonged, but I've never laid eyes on it.), and today the comments from the ignorant GOP candidate in Pennsylvania that compared becoming pregnant because of rape to having a child out of wedlock....It's enough to make a person scream....or to make them fight. I am someone who likes the fighting approach even if my actions actually produce little in the way of results just so I feel as if I am doing something to stop the madness. 

My facebook page this past week has been very active. I re-post everything that I think is important, all of the bullshit that is said against human rights, women's rights, etc. by candidates and by those already in office. Sometimes I piss people off. I don't care. I have facebook friends of many different walks of life, many different religious and political views, friends from all over the world. When they post things that I don't agree with, I scroll past it. Why? Because I don't like to argue with people over issues. I would rather argue with politicians, for instance, over political issues or stupid things they've said than argue with a person I like because we have different views on these issues. I am one of few with that philosophy apparently.  However, that won't make me stop posting. My body is a piece of crap that just doesn't work as I wish it would. It's far weaker than my spirit. As a result of that, I often end up missing things like protests. So my facebook posts, while largely overlooked I am sure, are my way of having a voice in all of this. And I won't silence it to pacify facebook friends or anyone else. Like I said, although I doubt anyone pays attention to it, it's really all I have to make me feel as if I am doing something instead of laying down and letting the GOP walk all over me. Having said that...here's my opinion on some of the stuff that's happened this past week:
The Akin "scandal"
If you missed it, Rep. Todd Akin proceeded to "enlighten" the world about how a woman can't get pregnant in cases of "legitimate" rape because her body just "shuts the whole thing down". What he said is wrong and completely ignorant. But I don't get why everyone took notice considering the fact that this is the kind of crap that's been said over and over again since the beginning of 2011 by members of the GOP. We had one politican compare a woman being forced to carry and give birth to a still born baby long after it had died in her womb because of abortion restrictions to a cow giving birth to a dead calf, we have 31 states that allow a rapist to sue for parental rights....hell, all the way back to 1990 we had jack asses like Clayton Williams telling women to lay back and enjoy rape. This bullshit isn't new, this is NOT an isolated case. This is one of many many attacks on women, on abortion, on birth control that we've seen from this party. Which leads me straight to....
Paul Ryan co-sponsoring a bill with Akin
This bill would ban ALL abortions, all contraceptives, and even invetro-fertilization by granting an egg personhood rights (one of the dumbest concepts I have ever heard in my life!) It also gives rapists a boat load of rights to the children they conceive during rape. And this is coming from Mitt Romney's VP. No, there's no war on women at all, folks. No connection between Romney and Akin either. None at all. 

Aren't they chummy? By the way, the name of that bill is the Right to Life bill in case you want to check it out on your own sometime. 

Tom Smith, a GOP candidate from Pennsylvania, decided to spend his Monday enlightening the world on how a child conceived in rape is much like a child conceived out of wedlock. When asked how he would approach the situation if his daughter were raped, how he would tell her she had to keep the baby, he said he went through a similar situation and his daughter chose the right thing, to have the baby. When asked how the situation was similar, he answered that she was pregnant and not married.... In case you missed it (and I am sure you did because I really haven't heard much about it in the mainstream today) here's the story:
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/08/27/751971/pennsylvania-gop-senate-candidate-getting-pregnant-from-rape-is-similar-to-having-a-baby-out-of-wedlock/?mobile=nc
At the bottom there is a sound clip and you can actually listen to him say all of this. And you can hear him try to backtrack like a motherfucker when he was pressed harder on the comparison. 

Now this was President Obama's reaction to Akin's comments:

Why would I EVER vote for Romney and Ryan? As a 25 year old poor woman who is very sick and has no health care, as someone who would fight for a woman's freedom, for the freedom of others as well, no matter what...why the hell would I vote for men who PROMISE to take away all of the things our foremothers and forefathers fought so damned hard for? I would have to be a fool. Speaking of fools...

Get this. In the state of Arizona a woman is now legally pregnant two weeks before she actually conceives. And this completely retarded piece of horse shit? Signed into law by a woman. Yep, god bless America. :)
http://www.examiner.com/article/arizona-law-pregnancy-starts-2-weeks-before-conception

And all of this...every one of the above headlines...has all occurred since my last blog post. Akin is one of many. Let's put everyone's dirty laundry from the GOP out there as Akin's was put out. Let's tell the truth on ALL of it. Isolated incident my ass. Men trying to destroy a woman's freedom, men trying to redefine rape, even on politician who made the remark that women don't even know what rape is....this wasn't an isolated incident. It's the agenda, the platform, of the entire GOP party. Oh, and in addition to all that, did you guys happen to catch Romney's comments on financial aid? You can have the amount of schooling you can pay for. Why does he feel this way? Because women and poor people need to stay in their place and the GOP is hell bent on taking away any option we have to do anything to advance beyond poverty and the kitchen. And yet so many women, so many poor people, continue to defend them like slaves defending Jefferson Davis just...because...they are not Obama. Make sense to you because it sure as hell doesn't make a bit of sense to me!

Now, on a completely different note....Tropical Storm Isaac, which is expected to become Hurricane Isaac in no time, is most likely going to hit New Orleans either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. Wednesday is the 7th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina which also began as a tropical storm headed for Florida that changed course and became a hurricane before touching down in New Orleans so I, and many others I am sure, am experiencing a very unpleasant deja vu sensation right now. I plan to do a post Wednesday about that terrible event so I won't say too much about New Orleans and that storm now. What I will say is that regardless of who you pray to please pray for New Orleans, that the people get out safe, and that the damage, if it hits, will be very little. The people there have suffered enough, they've lost enough, and that wound is still so fresh. The city itself has lost enough. It is too precious, too beautiful, to be lost or to endure anymore. There is no other city in this country like Nawlins, baby. Whether people realize it or not, we need its Southern charm. So pray that it's safe, that the people and the pets are safe.