All sorts of right wing asshattery on display, never mind the fact that women have always been in the military. I think what really pisses these guys off is that now women will get credit for what they are already doing, and even more women could possibly see advances in their military careers that wouldn’t have been possible without that experience. That’s what really terrifies these so-called men: even more female generals (and yes, they exist already – quake in terror, little men!).
• Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey: We’ve had this ongoing issue with sexual harassment, sexual assault. I believe its because we’ve had separate classes of military personnel at some level. Now, its far more complicated than that. But when you have one part of the population that is designated as ‘warriors’ and one part that is designated as something else, that disparity begins to establish a psychology that — in some cases — led to that environment. I have to believe the more we treat people equally, the more likely they are to treat each other equally.
• Serious people won’t pay attention to you if your only objection to women serving in combat if you just say, “No sir, I don’t like it!” So people with dated ideas about what women can do are forced to invent objections that look at least superficially rooted in fact, instead of sexism. Closer examination reveals they are dumb.
Hearings
• For those that bothered to show up: Sen. John Kerry [at confirmation hearing]: Senator, in all fairness, we do know what happened. I think it is very clear. Were you at the briefing with the tapes? Johnson: No. Kerry: Well, there was a briefing with tapes, which we all saw, those of us who went to it, which made it crystal clear. We sat for several hours with our intel folks who described to us precisely what we were seeing. We saw all of the events unfold. We had a very complete and detailed description.
• “Senator, if you’re trying to get some daylight between me and Secretary Clinton, that’s not going to happen here today on that score.” – Kerry, at confirmation hearings.
• Republican Lawmaker, state representative Cathrynn Brown of New Mexico, Wants to Jail Rape Victims for Ending Pregnancies. A New Mexico lawmaker has proposed that the fetus is evidence and terminating it could cost women three years in jail. The proposed legislation, House Bill 206, would make it illegal for a woman to have an abortion after being raped because the fetus is evidence of the crime. A women who does choose to have an abortion would be charged with the third-degree felony of “tampering with evidence,” which carries up to a three year prison sentence in New Mexico.
• Hate Crimes: A Rape Every Minute, a Thousand Corpses Every Year. There is a pattern of violence against women that’s broad and deep and horrific and incessantly overlooked. Occasionally, a case involving a celebrity or lurid details in a particular case get a lot of attention in the media, but such cases are treated as anomalies, while the abundance of incidental news items about violence against women in this country, in other countries, on every continent including Antarctica, constitute a kind of background wallpaper for the news.
• So, out of the clear blue, the Catholic church has decided, contrary to years of wanting to force women to have babies under the guise of pro-life, has decided that maybe a fetus isn’t a person after all. But only if it will cost them money.
In other news
• FL House Speaker Weatherford opposed to GOP Electoral College plans. Republicans in five states, notably Virginia, have discussed changing the way they award Electoral College votes in presidential races by apportioning them on each congressional district, rather than the state’s popular vote. The reason: Republican Mitt Romney would have won the presidency despite losing the popular vote in states where the GOP controls the legislatures: Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Florida. But Florida, the largest swing state, won’t go along with changing the Electoral College if Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford has any say (and he has a major say). “To me, that’s like saying in a football game, ‘We should have only three quarters, because we were winning after three quarters and the beat us in the fourth,” Weatherford, a Republican, told the Herald/Times. “I don’t think we need to change the rules of the game, I think we need to get better.”
• ‘Twisted Sister’ reminds Republicans of the time Ted Nugent pooped his pants to dodge Vietnam: In an interview with music website Noisecreep, “Twisted Sister” frontman Dee Snider said he doesn’t know why most Republicans who seem to love fellow rocker Ted Nugent cannot seem to recall him dodging the draft during the Vietnam war in the most revolting way possible: by pooping and vomiting on himself for a week, and doing hard drugs. “Ted’s always been a gun-toting conservative,” he said after being asked to opine on Nugent’s claim that he’s prepared to launch an armed revolt against the U.S. government over the reelection of Presidnet Barack Obama. “But what gets me is that he was actually a draft dodger! I mean, to the point where he didn’t bathe for a week, and vomited on himself to deliberately avoid the draft.”
F.D.Brightly
Misogynists lose it over women in the military
Shorter Question Everything
All sorts of right wing asshattery on display, never mind the fact that women have always been in the military. I think what really pisses these guys off is that now women will get credit for what they are already doing, and even more women could possibly see advances in their military careers that wouldn’t have been possible without that experience. That’s what really terrifies these so-called men: even more female generals (and yes, they exist already – quake in terror, little men!).
• Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey: We’ve had this ongoing issue with sexual harassment, sexual assault. I believe its because we’ve had separate classes of military personnel at some level. Now, its far more complicated than that. But when you have one part of the population that is designated as ‘warriors’ and one part that is designated as something else, that disparity begins to establish a psychology that — in some cases — led to that environment. I have to believe the more we treat people equally, the more likely they are to treat each other equally.
• Serious people won’t pay attention to you if your only objection to women serving in combat if you just say, “No sir, I don’t like it!” So people with dated ideas about what women can do are forced to invent objections that look at least superficially rooted in fact, instead of sexism. Closer examination reveals they are dumb.
Hearings
• For those that bothered to show up: Sen. John Kerry [at confirmation hearing]: Senator, in all fairness, we do know what happened. I think it is very clear. Were you at the briefing with the tapes? Johnson: No. Kerry: Well, there was a briefing with tapes, which we all saw, those of us who went to it, which made it crystal clear. We sat for several hours with our intel folks who described to us precisely what we were seeing. We saw all of the events unfold. We had a very complete and detailed description.
• “Senator, if you’re trying to get some daylight between me and Secretary Clinton, that’s not going to happen here today on that score.” – Kerry, at confirmation hearings.
• GOP display same old misogynistic dog whistles against Clinton over Benghazi hearings.
Reproductive Wrongs
• Republican Lawmaker, state representative Cathrynn Brown of New Mexico, Wants to Jail Rape Victims for Ending Pregnancies. A New Mexico lawmaker has proposed that the fetus is evidence and terminating it could cost women three years in jail. The proposed legislation, House Bill 206, would make it illegal for a woman to have an abortion after being raped because the fetus is evidence of the crime. A women who does choose to have an abortion would be charged with the third-degree felony of “tampering with evidence,” which carries up to a three year prison sentence in New Mexico.
• Hate Crimes: A Rape Every Minute, a Thousand Corpses Every Year. There is a pattern of violence against women that’s broad and deep and horrific and incessantly overlooked. Occasionally, a case involving a celebrity or lurid details in a particular case get a lot of attention in the media, but such cases are treated as anomalies, while the abundance of incidental news items about violence against women in this country, in other countries, on every continent including Antarctica, constitute a kind of background wallpaper for the news.
• A chain of Catholic Hospitals has beaten a malpractice lawsuit by saying that fetuses are not equivalent to human lives. According to the Colorado Independent, in the death of a 31-year-old woman carrying twin fetuses, Catholic Health Initiatives’ attorneys argued that in cases of wrongful death, the term “person” only applies to individuals born alive, and not to those who die in utero.
• So, out of the clear blue, the Catholic church has decided, contrary to years of wanting to force women to have babies under the guise of pro-life, has decided that maybe a fetus isn’t a person after all. But only if it will cost them money.
In other news
• FL House Speaker Weatherford opposed to GOP Electoral College plans. Republicans in five states, notably Virginia, have discussed changing the way they award Electoral College votes in presidential races by apportioning them on each congressional district, rather than the state’s popular vote. The reason: Republican Mitt Romney would have won the presidency despite losing the popular vote in states where the GOP controls the legislatures: Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Florida. But Florida, the largest swing state, won’t go along with changing the Electoral College if Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford has any say (and he has a major say). “To me, that’s like saying in a football game, ‘We should have only three quarters, because we were winning after three quarters and the beat us in the fourth,” Weatherford, a Republican, told the Herald/Times. “I don’t think we need to change the rules of the game, I think we need to get better.”
• ‘Twisted Sister’ reminds Republicans of the time Ted Nugent pooped his pants to dodge Vietnam: In an interview with music website Noisecreep, “Twisted Sister” frontman Dee Snider said he doesn’t know why most Republicans who seem to love fellow rocker Ted Nugent cannot seem to recall him dodging the draft during the Vietnam war in the most revolting way possible: by pooping and vomiting on himself for a week, and doing hard drugs. “Ted’s always been a gun-toting conservative,” he said after being asked to opine on Nugent’s claim that he’s prepared to launch an armed revolt against the U.S. government over the reelection of Presidnet Barack Obama. “But what gets me is that he was actually a draft dodger! I mean, to the point where he didn’t bathe for a week, and vomited on himself to deliberately avoid the draft.”