Define “Consensual”

Pamela — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:55:27 +0000

It never fails. When an issue involving sex crops up in the public media, the comments and arguments made are often at least as disturbing as the original controversy.

In this case, the spark igniting the debate was Dana Loesch’s remarks about the proposed Virginia law requiring an invasive and unnecessary form of ultrasound before a woman has an abortion. Loesh pooh-poohed the notion that this law essentially mandated rape-by-proxy because the women involved “…had no problem having similar to a trans-vaginal procedure when they engaged in the act that resulted in their pregnancy.”

I’m old enough to remember reading similar rationales invoked by people back in the 60s who were trying to minimize or even dismiss the invasiveness of rape. “It’s no big deal. So the guy stuck his whatsit in her vagina. It’s not like she’d never had sex, is it? Why do people get so emotional and Victorian about it? He should be charged with simple assault.”

But the most disturbing arguments I’ve seen online have been over the meaning of the word “consensual.” “She signed a consent form,” I’ve seen some people argue. “Therefore she’s willing. ‘Nuff said!”

Please. Everybody involved, from the doctors, to the lawmakers, to the women signing that “consent” form, knows that the woman does not want this invasive and unnecessary procedure. It’s just a humiliating punishment thought up by conservative lawmakers. She would sign the form because, if she didn’t, she’d be forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term. This would not make the woman a willing participant, and saying so stretches the meaning of the word “willing” to the breaking point.

The good news is that enough people recognize the invasiveness of this Virginia law that Governor Robert F. McDonnell is having some second thoughts about it. A silent protest of over a thousand people at the capital the other day may have had something to do with his decision to back off just a bit.

Funny Newt Should Say That

Pamela — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:43:50 +0000

Newt Gingrich, at Oral Roberts University:

Barack Obama is the most dangerous president in modern American history …. these are not Norwegian Rotarians. There’s a very specific desire to kill us. There’s a desire to destroy our civilization…The president wants to unilaterally weaken the United States…So defeating Barack Obama becomes in fact a duty of national security…

And so, if President Obama is re-elected, the next step in defending our “national security” would be…?

I mean given that one reaction on the right to the election of our first black president has been to empty gun stores, I’d really like to know.

Not Norwegian Rotarians?

How about a Norwegian Freemason who believed that politicians were so weak on Islamic terrorism that they were a threat to his country’s national security?

Dana Loesch Sez…

Pamela — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 20:24:18 +0000

CNN’s Dana Loesch, on the recent Virginia law requiring women to submit to an invasive ultrasound before they can have an abortion: There were individuals saying, ‘Oh what about the Virginia rape? The rapes that, the forced rapes of women who are pregnant?’ What? Wait a minute, they had no problem having similar to a trans-vaginal procedure when they engaged in the act that resulted in their pregnancy.

Yes, you heard right.

According to Dana Loesch, no sexually active woman can be raped.

Once you’ve consented to vaginal penetration once, you’ve consented to all subsequent vaginal penetration.

What Was Left Out

Pamela — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 21:04:41 +0000

Sandra Fluke: One of the women I wanted to talk about today is a close friend of mine. She has Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, and what that means is she needs to take contraception for a medical reason, to prevent cysts from growing on her ovaries…That technically means she would be covered under Georgetown’s student health insurance, which does not cover contraception for prevention of pregnancy. But unfortunately, when university administrators and employers and insurance companies get involved in deciding whose health needs are legitimate and whose aren’t, what happens is that women’s health needs take a back seat to that type of ideology. And that’s what happened in her case….she had to pay out of pocket about a $100 a month…and eventually, she couldn’t afford it. She had to stop taking it…after a few months of her not taking the prescription, a massive cyst grew on her ovary…she had the ovary surgically removed…She has, since the surgery, experienced symptoms of early menopause and her doctors are very concerned that at the age of 32 she is entering early menopause, which means there is nothing any doctor can do to help her conceive a child and it will also put her at increased risk for cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis.

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It’s not just that Chairman Issa didn’t want us to hear it.

HE didn’t want to hear it.

Men in Black

Pamela — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:15:01 +0000

Here is a picture from today’s House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing about the Obama administration’s birth control mandate:

The first row are the allowed witnesses.

All those people a couple rows behind them? Well… those witnesses just don’t fit in.

That’s why most of the Democratic women on the committee walked out of the room.

Just now, Oklahoma GOP representative Jim Lankford implied that these men in black were being “berated” by the committee. In fact, they’ve mostly been getting strokes just short of full-body massages from most of the remaining committee members. This hearing is such a transparent and over-the-top, right wing extremist attack on the administration (one Representative invoked those dastartdly laws against smoking in public buildings as a sign of the slippery slope the administration has set up) that clips from it should be used by Democrats in the upcoming election.

Let’s call the Virginia law what it is: State-mandated rape by proxy

David — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 03:33:09 +0000

Last night Rachel Maddow danced around explaining Virginia’s proposed law requiring women wanting abortions to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound. She seemed to have problems even saying the word “vagina” and simply talked about “things inserted into your body”.

Let’s stop playing word games

This is legally sanctioned rape, end of discussion.

The state is compelling a doctor to perform an unnecessary medical procedure on an unwilling patient in order to get the medical treatment she needs.

The ultrasound probe is the state of Virginia’s penis, and it is being used to sexually assault a woman because some sick and depraved politicians wish to demean women the do not approve of.

The woman is coerced into sitting in stirrups and submitting to a legal rape.

These very same sad, old, sexually deviant white men wish to punish any woman seeking an abortion, but you can bet your last dollar that if any of their mistresses or daughters have an “inconvenient” pregnancy, they will never be subject to this official rape. Instead, they will be given an abortion on the sly from a “helpful” doctor, or after a quick trip to Canada or England.

Let me reiterate, because I cannot stress enough the perversion being perpetrated by the Virginia government:

The Commonwealth (oh, the irony) of Virginia will force an unwilling doctor to vaginally rape with a medical instrument, a coerced and unwilling woman.

Folks, The Handmaid’s Tale is now close to being a documentary, the Republic of Gilead is nigh.

The phone number for the Virginia governor’s office is 804-786-2211

And the Story in Murfreesbro Continues

Pamela — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:14:47 +0000

A couple of years ago I wrote a piece about vandalism at the site of a future mosque in Murfreesbro Tennessee, vandalism that included destroying signs and setting fire to construction equipment. My focus back then was the distinct bias of a local news report.

Today there’s more news out of Murfreesbro. It’s going to be the site of training for the Rutherford County Sheriff’s department, and the teacher is going to be former FBI agent John Guandolo, a man who believes that mosques are front organizations for the Muslim Brotherhood and has said that “they do not have the First Amendment right to do anything.”

Sheriff Robert Arnold says, aw, shucks, he just wants his men to learn about Muslims. “My stance is and my office’s stance is, we are not here to pick sides. I am here to protect the people of this county, and I am never going to waiver from that.”

The sheriff’s office, in its quest for information about Islam, apparently did not contact any actual Muslims.

No doubt the next training session is going to include David Duke instructing the sheriff’s department on African American culture.

Betcha Didn’t Know — ALMOST 50% is Mostly a Majority!

Pamela — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:40:16 +0000

PolitiFact, on Marco Rubio’s statement that “The Majority of Americans are Conservative”

Rubio said that the majority of Americans are conservative. A respected ongoing poll from Gallup shows that conservatives are the largest ideological group, but they don’t cross the 50 percent threshold. So we rate his statement Mostly True.

Huh?

Rachel Maddow responded to this last night:

Even if you want to extrapolate to parties, even if you want to give Marco Rubio the benefit of the doubt and say ‘Republican leaning’ instead of conservative, that still doesn’t get you to a majority either. So according to PolitiFact, Marco Rubio’s literal claim is false. Extrapolating generously from his literal claim? Also false. Therefore PolitiFact’s rating of Marco Rubio’s statement? Mostly true!

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And today PolitiFact Bill Adair Responds:

In this case, we rated it Mostly True because we felt that while the number was short of a majority, it was still a plurality. Forty percent of Americans consider themselves conservative, 35 percent moderate and 21 percent liberal. It wasn’t quite a majority, but was close… In Gallup’s poll, the number has never crossed the 50 percent threshold. Technically, he would be more accurate if he said a plurality of Americans are conservative. 

A given number is a majority or it is not. Saying something is a majority when it is not a majority is not “mostly true.” It’s false.

This not a matter of opinion.

It’ s a matter of arithmetic.

This Needs to be Said Louder and More Often

Pamela — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:07:18 +0000

What This Case Has Not Been About

The right to pray.

Any American can pray, silently or verbally, seven days a week, twenty four hours a day, in
private as Jesus taught’ or in large public events as Mohammed instructed.

Recently, Texas Federal judge Fred Biery, a judge apparently known for being outspoken, wrote an order approving a settlement between a public school. It included a stinging personal statement aimed at politicians who have made this case a political football:

A PERSONAL STATEMENT

During the course of this litigation, many have played a part:

To the United States Marshal Service and local police who have provided heightened security:

Thank you.

To those Christians who have venomously and vomitously cursed the Court family and threatened bodily harm and assassination: In His name, I forgive you.

To those who have prayed for my death: Your prayers will someday be answered, as inevitably trumps probability.

To those in the executive and legislative branches of government who have demagogued this case for their own political goals: You should be ashamed of yourselves.

To the lawyers who have advocated professionally and respectfully for their clients’ respective positions: Bless you.

Most outlets point out that at least one of the “politicians” referenced is Newt Gingrich, who’d advocated that judges like Biery be “hauled in front of congress” for making decisions Gingrich doesn’t like. I’m curious, though, about the plural he uses. “Those in the executive and legislative branches. of government…” Is this an effort to take some of the sting out of his reference to Gingrich, or does he really have some other politicians in mind?

“Raped Too Much”

Pamela — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:07:48 +0000

Liz Trotta on all those whiney women in the military who keep carping about being sexually assaulted:

So, you have this whole bureaucracy upon bureaucracy being built up with all kinds of levels of people to support women in the military who are now being raped too much.

As opposed to being raped just enough?