Via Amanda Marcotte: Erick Erickson thinks the imaginary liberal media wants to have nasty sex with President Barack Obama.
But now, you’d rather have cocktails (pun absolutely intended for a good portion of you “journalists”) with the President, jealously size up the competition in the First Lady, and wish you too could be a mistress when you see France’s President and whoever the gal of the week is for him.
This is the same Erick Erickson who discussed goat sex on Twitter.
It makes me cringe just to write about Erickson's tweets. Erickson has no problem talking about man and goat sex on social media. I have never blogged and thought to myself, "I need more goat fucking in my blog posts." What rationale person thinks like this. Erickson makes more sexual references in his post.
But you journalists have such erections for everything Barack Obama does, you can’t even summon outrage to report fairly on the latest b.s. from the administration over Obamacare. Is it any wonder so many people have stopped trusting you?
For a straight guy against gay marriage Erickson sure thinks about dick a lot.
"I believe and I think the right approach is to accept this horribly created - in the sense of rape - but nevertheless a gift in a broken way, the gift of human life, and accept what God has given you. As you know, we have to, in lots of different aspects of our life. We have horrible things happen. I can't think of anything more horrible. But, nevertheless, we have to make the best out of a bad situation."
Santorum actually believes women are receiving a gift by being raped and impregnated by their attacker. In Santorum's world being raped is something women should put on their Amazon.com wishlist. Santorum then tells condescendingly tells women to tough it out and carry the fetus to birth. This man is insufferable.
The thing is, we don't just "accept what God has given us" in a whole lot of circumstances. Like when God gives us cancer. Or when God gives us problems with a wanted pregnancy. We try to counteract the things that are physically or psychologically harmful to us, or things that we don't want to happen. And plenty of women do choose to give birth when they're impregnated by rape - that's a totally valid choice. But it's not one that should be forced on any woman, rape or no rape.
Most candidates, when questioned on whether they could honestly force their family members to carry a pregnancy to term after rape, will at the very least hem and haw a little over the issue.
But not former Pennsylvanna Senator Rick Santorum. He says the baby is still a gift, and he would council his daughters to believe the same.
If you think Santorum has an empathy problem then you aren't the only one. Amanda Marcotte notes that Santorum has spent his career trying to deny the medical rights that saved his wife's life.
Most of us, when we suffer from a traumatic situation, find that it increases our empathy with others in similar circumstances, and many of us are driven to become activists fighting to make life easier for people in similiar situations. But for Rick Santorum, trauma drove him in the other direction: It decreased his empathy for others in similiar situations, and caused him to want to increase their pain and suffering. That's the lesson to be drawn from a profile of Santorum in the New York Times, which explains that after his wife Karen, got sick at 20 weeks of pregnancy and was spared the the spontaneous abortion/early delivery (the distinction is more cultural than biological), Santorum got busy making sure other couples in the same situation could never have the options and speedy medical care that helped saved Karen's life.
Santorum has no problem allowing women to die to please his religious worldview. No wonder Santorum views rape as a minor nuisance to women.
6. Florida. Florida only got a D on the 2011 report card for the states, and I guess they’re eager to play catch-up in the Misogyny Olympics, because the legislature filed 18 separate bills restricting abortion rights. The bills are the usual scattershot of restrictions, including mandatory ultrasounds, a ban on post-20 week abortions, a First Amendment-violating law banning discussion of drugs or herbs that could induce miscarriage, and restrictions on private insurance funding for abortion. The overwhelming number of bills caused state representative Scott Randolph to crack that his wife should incorporate her uterus if she wants to have basic privacy rights, which in turn caused the censorship-happy Republican caucus to censure Randolph and attempt to silence his telling jokes in the future.
The word uterus has become a rallying cry for Florida's progressive movement. There is a Facebook page called Uterus. Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon overplayed his hand by attempting to censor a inoffensive word. Anyone that has problem hearing the word uterus is really sexually uptight.
Amanda Marcotte predicts, "King, who just created a slogan that will spawn a million T-shirts that you probably only want to wear to feminist meet-ups."
The truth is this isn't about abortion or even Christian religion. King and other conservatives are uptight about sexuality and want to punish those that do the nasty. Amanda posted this quote of an exchange Sean Hannity had with Juan Williams.
"I'm pro-choice in this sense, Juan. If you choose to get in the back of the car with someone, if you choose to make out with them, if you choose to grab, grope and fondle, if you choose to take one article of clothing off after another, guess what? You made a series of choices, Juan."
Translation: If a woman has sex without Sean Hannity's consent then she deserved the punishment of carrying the baby to the final trimester. Hannity also wants the woman to take full responsibility of the baby. And no government handouts. Hannity doesn't care if your poor. Punishment has been rendered.
@pushingrope Of course, many aren't young or from the South.
I'm sure you remember the grey-haired Congressman Kevin McCarthy trying to pass himself off as a young gun. Who is he trying to kid?
The RNC could do a great service to the country by getting elected Beltway Republicans a Netflix subscription. To any Beltway Republicans reading this. There have been movies made past the year 1989. There is a great one in the theatres right now called Inception. It may not star any of the actors in The Breakfast Club, but I'm sure you will enjoy it. And please stop using the names of bad 80s movies for marketing purposes. Most twenty-somethings don't know who Emilio Estevez is.
Darleen of Protein Wisdom takes pride in posting a comic of President Barack Obama raping the Statue of Liberty.
Oh I know I’m going to get called names on this. But I’m not going to play that game anymore. Like the sign at one of the TEA parties that said “it doesn’t matter what this sign says, you going to call it racist anyway.” When even the lawsuits now being brought by 30 plus state AG’s is considered racist, it is time to stop playing that game.
Darleen, that is because the Tea Party signs are racist. 1776 Tea Party leader Dale Robertson held this sign at a rally.
The readership at Protein Wisdom is infamously misogynist. A sample comment by serr8d.
The Barack Obama is a very rapey little dude I think. You know you love it he says.
More people will be able to buy private insurance. That is hardly a reason for rape jokes and death threats.
Amanda Marcotte has had a online dealing with Darleen. Marcotte explains that Darleen is a "textbook example of a female misogynist." If you think that sounds harsh, Darleen posted a rape comic for giggles. Darleen also called the feminist blogosphere "Vagina Warrior blogsphere." Darleen constantly bashes a movement that gave her the rights she has. That is pretty sick.
Feminist blogging has gone mainstream. The women on the panel has been gracious enough to link to this blog. Samhita Mukhopadhyay is the only blogger I haven't communicate with. Lindsay Beyerstein helped me immensely on the "Faith In Teaching is A Paper Nonprofit". The feminist bloggers deserve credit for having open dialogues and linking to smaller bloggers like myself.
Update: Jill mentions the infamous pie fight. FYI: Daily Kos ran a Blogad that feautured two women dressed as Mary Ann and Ginger from Gilligan's Island. Many people found the ad tasteless. I was a part of the pie fight. My old post reprinted.
Markos Moulitsas Zúniga: Proud Member of the Men's Studies Set 2005-06-09
As far as I'm concerned, Kos can write whatever pleases him. I support free speech. That means I have to support the right for people to say things I don't necessary agree with. Kos should follow the same credo.
So over the weekend, certain segments of the community have erupted in anger over the TBS ad for their reality show, the Real Gilligan's Island. Apparently, having two women throw pies at each other, wrestle each other in a sexy, lesbianic manner, then having water splashed on their ample, fake bosoms is degrading to women. Or something like that. Whatever. Feel free to be offended. I find such humorless, knee-jerk reactions, to be tedious at best, sanctimonious and arrogant at worst. I don't care for such sanctimony from Joe Lieberman, I don't care for it from anyone else. Some people find such content offensive. Some people find it arousing. Some people find it funny. To each his or her own.
But I am not Lieberman. I won't sit there and judge pop culture and act as gatekeeper to what I think is "appropriate", and what isn't.
And I certainly won't let the sanctimonious women's studies set play that role on this site. Feel free to be offended. Feel free to claim that I'm somehow abandoning "progressive principles" by running the ad. It's a free country. Feel free to storm off in a huff. Other deserving bloggers could use the patronage.
Me, I'll focus on the important shit.
Many that complained about the ad were women. I personally don't have a problem with things like porn. News flash: I've seen a few in my time. I do wonder why Markos feels so threatened that he has to lash out at his female readers and call them the "women's studies set."
Glenn Reynolds ran the same blogad on his site. I don't expect his readership to complain. Most of Instapundit's readers fear gays getting married. I don't expect him to stand up for the rights of women. Progressives are different and are not going to hang on to every word by Markos as if it is the gospel truth.
I too worry about pop culture becoming censored by the likes of James Dobson. Markos could have kindly said he needed to run the ad to pay for the bandwidth for his site. Instead, he lashed out at women. Not cool. It's a matter of tone. There a difference between saying, "please pass me the salt," and "gimme the fucking salt bitch!"
I think comrade Kos should be commended for bringing his sexist thoughts out into an open forum, thus encouraging the other cockroaches to crawl out from the patriarchal rock they were hiding under. Next time, it might be a better idea to wave a tentacle or two, rather than swinging yr weenie around like you own the place.
Is the ad in and of itself offensive? Not necessarily. What is offensive is Kos’ dismissal of feminist complaint, concern and criticism regarding a pretty sexist ad designed for het male titillation run on the most widely-known progressive blog for his own personal profit.
Objectifying and demeaning any minority group for the sake of profit, be it corporate or personal, is abhorrent. This is exactly why I resist the Democratic party and most of its advocates. Women and women’s opinions don’t matter if they run contrary to the bottom line.
I'm not gonna dodge it like a coward, which was my first inclination. And I'm not gonna mince words, either--as someone who gets called a man-hater and a sexist on average once a day, if not more, I can safely say that Kos was being a big weenie about being called out for honest-to-god sexism in touting out the tedious stereotype that feminists are humorless wretches. Suck it up, dude.
Markos also attacked NARAL for endorsing pro-choice Republican Lincoln Chafee. Markos thinks that Democrats should be a party of ideals and not issues. He must not be familiar with the Will Rogers quote: "I belong to no organized political party -- I am a Democrat." I make this simple for him to understand. Republicans are about protection the establishment. Democrats are everyone else that falls through the cracks. The Donkey Party is about protecting the little guys and girls. I say that is a fine ideal. Someone who thinks that you must only vote for one party, even if you don't like a candidate, is an ideologue.
Main Entry: ideo·logue
1 : an impractical idealist : THEORIST 2 : an often blindly partisan advocate or adherent of a particular ideology
Female members of Daily Kos have left and started their own blog call Women Kossacks. Good luck with the blog, ladies.
Several links for this post stolen from the wonderful Media Girl.
I get misty eyed for when the progressive blogosphere was a smaller space.
Ed Driscoll, Allah Pundit and Glenn Reynolds accused President Barack Obama of not supporting democracy in Iran. Their evidence was Obama had ice cream with his daughters on Father's Day. Amanda Marcotte read the conservative attacks of Obama's dietery and asks conservatives if their foodie tastes is freedom loving. Marcotte put herself to the Freedom Eating Test.
I challenge all right wing bloggers---all bloggers, really---to examine their own food consumption patterns over the weekend to see if their consumption was supportive or detrimental to the Iranian struggle.
Amanda's love of alcohol and Friday Night Lights was not enough from keeping her from being an anti-freedom loving hippie. Those vegan breakfast tacos will peg you as a socialist every time.
Amanda Marcotte has a Reality Check podcast on the murder of abortion provider George Tiller. I highly recommend you listen to the podcast.
There are a few things Marcotte discussed that I want to touch upon. Bill O'Reilly uses inflammatory speech to boost ratings. O'Reilly said Tiller was running "a death mill" and labeled him "Tiller the baby killer." Watch the video and judge for yourself if O'Reilly is attempting journalism or throwing red meat to his audience.
"In the state of Kansas, there is a doctor, George Tiller, who will execute babies for $5,000 if the mother is depressed. And there are rapists impregnating 10-year-olds who are being protected by abortion clinics. It doesn't get worse than that. This is the absolute shame of America."
The old show bisiness saying is "give the audience what they want." The Fox News audience does not want investigative reporting and wonky analysis of policy. They want profession wrestling-style screaming matches and words that make their blood boil. O'Reilly did 29 segments on Tiller. O'Reilly can present himself as the pro wrestling-style hero battling his evil opponent.
"No question Dr. Tiller has blood on his hands. But now so does Governor Sebelius. She is not fit to serve. Nor is any Kansas politician who supports Tiller's business of destruction. I wouldn't want to be these people if there is a Judgment Day. I just -- you know ... Kansas is a great state, but this is a disgrace upon everyone who lives in Kansas. Is it not?"
If that isn't inflammatory language than I don't know what is? O'Reiily has the right to free speech. That freedom has consequences. O'Reilly responded to Tiller's death by attackingDaily Kos, the Kansas City Star and Mary Mapes. O'Reilly desperately wants to turn attention away from his comments. His ratings will tank if viewers believe he has (to quote O"Reilly) blood on his hands.
It took just minutes after the report of Tiller's murder for the far-left loons to hit the websites. Postings on the Daily Kos and The Huffington Post immediately blamed me and Fox News for inciting Tiller's killer. Even though I reported on the doctor honestly, the loons asserted that my analysis of him was "hateful."
Chief of among the complaints was the doctor's nickname, "Tiller the baby killer." Some pro-lifers branded him with that, and I reported it. So did hundreds of other news sources. But the bigger picture here is the glorification of Tiller.
Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry and three other members of the organization were arrested for attempting to deliver a fetus to (then Governor) Bill Clinton. Operation Rescue employee Cheryl Sullenger went to prison for attempting to blow up an abortion clinic. Rachel Maddow reported on Sullenger notifying Scott Roeder of Tiller's movements. Andrew Sullivan reported, that Roeder commented on going inside Tiller's church, on the Operation Rescue message board.
I grieve for him that he did not have an opportunity to properly prepare his soul to face his Maker. Unless some miracle happened, he left this life with his hands drenched with the innocent blood of tens of thousands of babies that he murdered. Surely there will be a dreadful accounting for what he has done.
It now falls to pro-life leaders like myself to stand strong and unflinching in the face of the unjust criticism we will now endure because of his killing. And so I turn my attention to the attacks that will follow his death.
Much like O'Reilly's op-ed, Terry seeks to turn attention away from the anti-choice movement's history of harrassment and assassination attempt against Tiller. O'Reilly and Terry portraying themselves as victims is sickening. Tiller is dead and they aren't brave enough to stand by their past deeds.
O'Reilly and Terry are tough culture warriors but pleed for sympathy when public opinion is turning against them. O'Reilly and Terry continue to attack the dead Tiller's role as a abortion provider. Yet they refuse to acknowledge alleged killer Roeder's connection with Operation Rescue. Anti-abortionists are engaging in revisionist history. Their real history is too shameful for them to keep on the public record.
Sarah Palin and Cobra Commander pllot their evil plans for world domination. Palin is played by Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon and directed by Marc Faletti of PunkAssBlog. Those Texas progressive bloggers remember G.I. Joe better than I do.
It remains a mystery how Sarah Palin's supporters can call her a feminist. As Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, rape victims paid the cost of rape kits used to gather forensic evidence. In 2000, the Alaska state legislature passed a bill banning the practiced. The bill was written because of Wasilla's policy.
According to the sponsor, Democrat Eric Croft, the law was aimed in part at Wasilla, where now-Gov. Sarah Palin was mayor. When it was signed, Wasilla's police chief expressed displeasure.
Gov. Tony Knowles signed the bill into law. It became illegal for Alaskan law enforcement agencies to bill rape victims for kits. The rape kits can cost between $500 to $1,200. Palin's police chief Charlie Fannon was against the legislation.
Wasilla Police Chief Charlie Fannon does not agree with the new legislation, saying the law will require the city and communities to come up with more funds to cover the costs of the forensic exams.
In the past weve charged the cost of exams to the victims insurance company when possible. I just dont want to see any more burden put on the taxpayer, Fannon said.
Fannon thinks nothing about burdening the victim. Eric Schmeltzer reports that Fannon was hired because his predecessor led a recall against Palin. Fannon has disconnected his phone and will not talk to the media. Palin is going in damage control mode.
Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella said in an e-mail that the governor "does not believe, nor has she ever believed, that rape victims should have to pay for an evidence-gathering test."
Then why didn't Palin change the policy? The Alaska State Troopers and other towns did not charge victims for rape kits. Why did it take the legislature and Governor to change Wasilla's policy?
Update:76 of 100,000 people are raped in Alaska. The state has more rapes than any other state. That must be what Palin means by small town values.
Michelle Andrews reports that North Caralina is making victims for for rape test kits. "If someone breaks into your house, the state pays for the fingerprinting and DNA sample collecting," writes Amanda Marcotte. "So why not pay for the collection of evidence in rape?" Simple logic would dictate that rape victims should not have to pay for expenses into the investigation to catch rapists. Republicans are so obsessed with tax cuts that they forced the least fortunate to pay the bill. The tax shift continues.
Update:More evidence showing that paying for rape kits started under Palin's tenure.
Amanda Marcotte of Reality Check interviews people at Netroots Nation about reproductive rights. My view is Democrats need to get off their collective asses and pass legislation that clearly makes abortion legal. We can not expect the Supreme Court to keep abortion legal.
Update:Because of spelling errors, I am now believed to be an anti-choicer. I am not. Just to clear things up.
Clark Stooksbury of the American Conservitive calls Glenn Reynolds out for his dishonest blogging on Al Gore. The Right is now dumping on Reynolds crappy blogging. It couldn't happen to a more deserving guy.
I responded to a comment by Jill Filipovic, at Feministe, about Reynolds playing the race card on Barack Obama. Jill wrote about Jeff Goldstein's racist fantasy of Shannon Elizabeth being raped by Marlon Wayans and Method Man. Goldstein is often linked on Reynolds' blog. Less than great minds think alike.
Glenn Reynolds plays the race card on Barack Obama by throwing out Al Sharpton and Jeremiah Wright.
UPDATE: Reader Edward Friedman emails: “This cannot help Obama or Hillary. The more anti-police, anti-white rhetoric, the more the unwashed bitter people flock to McCain in November.” That’s probably right. As with Jeremiah Wright, it’s almost as if Sharpton is trying to hurt Obama.
This reads like a post from a man that ceased being the most popular political blogger a long time ago. Reynolds shouldn’t talk about racism after his pro-genocide post against Muslims.
Civilized societies have found it harder, though, to beat the barbarians without killing all, or nearly all, of them. Were it really to become all-out war of the sort that Osama and his ilk want, the likely result would be genocide — unavoidable, and provoked, perhaps, but genocide nonetheless, akin to what Rome did to Carthage, or to what Americans did to American Indians. That’s what happens when two societies can’t live together, and the weaker one won’t stop fighting — especially when the weaker one targets the civilians and children of the stronger. This is why I think it’s important to pursue a vigorous military strategy now. Because if we don’t, the military strategy we’ll have to follow in five or ten years will be light-years beyond “vigorous.”
If that post isn’t racist than I don’t know what is.
Reynolds has made racist comments here and here. The Nutty Professor recommended the book 33 Questions About American History You're Not Supposed to Ask by Thomas Woods. The author is a founding member of the League of the South. It is a white supremist group. The website operators won't come out and state their racist intentions. The board members even issued a statement that they aren't racist. They just want the South to succeed from the Union. And I have great swamp land to sell you.
Goldstein has made sport out of bashing feminists. He has a bizarre obsession with Amanda Marcotte. Goldstein is obsessed with Marcotte's appearance and vulgarly refered to her as a "misogynist raping godbag." How a misogynist like Goldstein can call a popular feminist a misogynist is mind-boggling.
Reynolds and Goldstein freely accuse Lefty bloggers of being intolerant. Their arguments would be taken more seriously if they didn't use the internet to preach their brand of xenophobia.
Update Jeff Goldstein correctly notes that he didn't write the two Protein Wisdom posts on Amanda Marcotte. That was my mistake. Jeff attacks my integrity in the comments. Jeff fails to realize that Protein Wisdom is his blog and he is responsible for the anti-Marcotte material on his site. Come on Jeff, do you agree with posts mocking Marcotte's appearance?
This is the same guy that left posts at the John Edwards campaign blog after Amanda was hired. Perfectly normal.
I’m so stoked. I have a box of them here and they look just awesome. It was funny writing that book while still writing this blog. On the blog, you have the day to day fighting, but of course, the book is more the stuff that’s going on all the time.
Congratulations to Amanda.
Update: Amanda informed me on the dates of her readings.
Amanda Marcotte is making a somewhat slippery slope argument. I agree with her that he anti-abortion movement is batshit crazy. The statement that women can be convicted because fertilized egg was in their peroid is a faulty legal argument. Who would know a woman flushed the egg out of her system? A woman can't be convicted of killing a person she can't see or knows exist. That is why the Colorado ballot to declare fertilized eggs living people is silly.
The Colorado Supreme Court cleared the way Tuesday for an anti-abortion group to collect signatures for a ballot measure that would define a fertilized egg as a person.
The court approved the language of the proposal, rejecting a challenge from abortion-rights supporters who argued it was misleading and dealt with more than one subject in violation of the state constitution.
If approved by voters, the measure would give fertilized eggs the state constitutional protections of inalienable rights, justice and due process.
Colorado for Equal Rights needs 76,000 signatures to get on the ballot. My advise is don't sign this piece of legal nonsense.
My fear (which is not a slippery slope argument) is that doctors will fear performing abortions during ectopic pregnancies.
Ectopic means "out of place." In an ectopic pregnancy, a fertilized egg has implanted outside the uterus. The egg settles in the fallopian tubes more than 95% of the time. This is why ectopic pregnancies are commonly called "tubal pregnancies." The egg can also implant in the ovary, abdomen, or the cervix, so you may see these referred to as cervical or abdominal pregnancies.
None of these areas has as much space or nurturing tissue as a uterus for a pregnancy to develop. As the fetus grows, it will eventually burst the organ that contains it. This can cause severe bleeding and endanger the mother's life. A classical ectopic pregnancy never develops into a live birth.
Nicaragua's anti-abortion policy has killed women with ectopic pregnancies. If anti-abortionists were too eliminate all abortions, the public would rally against their policies as with South Dakota and Terri Schiavo. Women would tragicly die in the short term.
The anti-abortion movement has been an uttter failure. They had a Republican executive branch, congress and Supreme Court. The leadership they supoported did not have the political courage to outlaw abortion. Republicans know the political consequences would hurt their party for a decade. It is much easier for the GOP to pay lip service to Christian fundamentalists that have no other party to turn to. Meet the old Christian Right con. Same as the old con.
Mr. G has been punked. I have written before about how the G Man doesn't understand scientific research. Amanda Marcotte and I challenged the bogus science of Karen Malec. Mr. G posted it because it confirmed his unfounded believe that abortions cause cancer.
What Mr. G fell for is comedy gold.
I, along with a number of other bloggers, and even Rush Limbaugh, apparently, fell for what has turned out to be a complete hoax. A made up abstract published at the website of a fake science journal purports to explain global warming by monitoring bacteria emissions. As I stated in the post, I can't claim to understand the research which formed the basis of the argument in the paper, which is now obvious as it was totally made up. It struck me as interesting and I brought it to you.
Michael Berube an brilliant post on how conservative bloggers are utterly predictability. Berube wrote parody posts of conservative. Roger L. Simon eerily wrote similarly worded posts.
Berube:
Everything changed for me on September 11. I used to consider myself a Democrat, but thanks to 9/11, I’m outraged by Chappaquiddick.
Simon:
The big loser of the confirmation hearings so far is Teddy Kennedy. In his hectoring and tasteless attack on Samuel Alito he has succeeded in nothing but reminding us of his (Teddy’s) past. While Alito may have been associated with a creepy Princeton alumni publication of twenty years ago, Kennedy was associated was something much worse than that—and we all know it. . . . When Mrs. Alito walked out of the room, I thought of Mary Jo Kopechne.
I wish a wrote a parody post about organic foods causing global warming.
I have zero interest in the Harry Potter books and movies. I am amazed that people line up in front of bookstores to reading the adventures of a geek boy wizard. My literary taste is more elitist.
She was asked by one young fan whether Dumbledore finds “true love”.
“Dumbledore is gay,” the author responded to gasps and applause.
She then explained that Dumbledore was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in a battle between good and bad wizards. “Falling in love can blind us to an extent,” Rowling said of Dumbledore’s feelings, adding that Dumbledore was “horribly, terribly let down”.
I don't think Dumbledore being gay will have any short-term positive or negative impact on the gay rights movement. Conservatives are crushed over the news.
Then after she finishes the books and everyone has read them, she drops the bomb that Dumbledore was gay. Way to mess up a kid’s sense of morality.
This blogger spent all this time reading the Harry Potter books and will now renounce them because a character is gay. How silly. That shouldn't make a difference. I haven't read the books, but my understanding is that there was nothing in the books about Dumbledore's sexuality. Progressives in the Pandagon comments have a WTF reaction to the news. They never thought of the character that way. Rowling may have conceive Dumbledore to be gay. That wasn't how he came off on the page.
On another level: I find it bizarre how fictional character such as Dumbledore, Murphy Brown and Tinky Winky can send conservatives into a tizzy. They seemed very concerned about the morality of fictional characters. There are poor people, addicts and homeless people that could use help. Maybe the Christian Right ignores them because those people hit too close to reality.
Amanda Marcotte and Jill Filpovic have fascinating post on how the actions of the anti-choice movement have dire consequences for women. Short anser: the health of women is a nonissue to the Right to Lifers. It is hard for the movement to call themselves pro-life when they put women at risk.
Amanda links to a Slate article about how the Christian Right has successfully pressured states to not from vaccinating teen girls from cervical cancer. The Christian Right argues that the drug would promote promiscuity. It doesn't matter that they don't have scietific data to back this nonsense. They are going to claim it because the Christian Right is seriously hung up on sex. Nothing else explains abstinence-only education programs that teach bogus information that HIV can be transmitted from tears.
Jill gives attention to Nicaragua's hidious no abortions policy.
The law has also killed at least 82 women since its institution.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega was a secular radical leftist. Now he is arm-twisting the legislature into institutionalizing a no abortion policy. He needs the backing of the Catholic Church to stay in power. Including, when the woman's life is at risk. María de Jesús González was denied an abortion because of the law.
What González did next was - when you understand what life in Nicaragua is like these days - utterly rational. She walked out of the hospital, past the obstetrics and gynaecological ward, past the clinics and pharmacies lining the avenues, packed her bag, kissed her aunts goodbye, and caught a bus back to her village. She summoned two neighbouring women - traditional healers - and requested that they terminate the pregnancy in her shack. Without anaesthetic or proper instruments it was more akin to mutilation than surgery, but González insisted. The haemhorraging was intense, and the agony can only be imagined. It was in vain. Maria died. "We heard there was a lot of blood, a lot of pain," says Esperanza Zeledon, 52, one of the Managua aunts.
González was not stupid and did not want to die. She knew her chance of surviving the butchery was small. But being a practical woman, she recognised it was her only chance, and took it. The story of why it was her only chance is an unfolding drama of religion, politics and power that has made Nicaragua a crucible in the global battle over abortion rights. This central American country has become the third country in the world, after Chile and El Salvador, to criminalise all abortions. It is a blanket ban. There are no exceptions for rape, incest, or life- or health-threatening pregnancies.
The fetus in Gonzalez's body was growing outside the womb. There was zero chance of a child being born. The complications put her at risk for internal bleeding. The law saved neither the fetus (which was beyond saving) or Gonzalez. There is nothing pro-life about that. The Nicaraguan government gave this woman a death sentence.
Side note: Amanda linked to my post on Karen Malec. It's worth reading and related to abortion issues.
It makes me cringe just to write about Erickson's tweets. Erickson has no problem talking about man and goat sex on social media. I have never blogged and thought to myself, "I need more goat fucking in my blog posts." What rationale person thinks like this. Erickson makes more sexual references in his post.
