It’s still undetermined as I write this, but if I were a betting woman, I’d wager that Todd Akin is toast by the time you read it. What else is there to say about the guy? I really have nothing to add, but I’d like to draw your attention to this piece from TPM, which isn’t unique today, about the myth of no-pregnancy-from-rape that persists in many quarters. Garance Franke-Ruta takes it apart — with citations that may make you feel a little nauseous — here. Avert your eyes if you’re breakfasting, as you’re about to read about secretions:
The odds that a woman who is raped will get pregnant are “one in millions and millions and millions,” said state Rep. Stephen Freind, R-Delaware County, the Legislature’s leading abortion foe.
The reason, Freind said, is that the traumatic experience of rape causes a woman to “secrete a certain secretion” that tends to kill sperm.
That’s from the Philadelphia Daily News, but it’s something I’ve read or heard elsewhere, often enough that I’ve come to think of it as the obverse of the other side’s protestor-who-comes-in-for-an-abortion story, as detailed by Frank Bruni earlier this year.
“Really, that’s so very rare, it just confuses the issue,” one woman told me in an interview. And many others, since.
You see the obvious implications here: If you got pregnant, then it must not have been a real rape, right? (Dirty dirty dirty slut. Enjoy your shaming, and learn.)
But the news cycle moves so fast, I’m relatively confident that most of you have already thrashed this out by now. So let’s move on! To skinny-dipping:
On a trip billed as a foreign policy fact-finding mission last year, a large group of Republican members of Congress, and some of their staff and family members, decided to take a swim in the (Sea of Galilee) after a long day.
Several members — including Representative Steve Southerland II of Florida, who jumped into the water holding hands with his 21-year-old daughter — said they were moved to dip for religious reasons. (The sea is believed by Christians to be the location where Jesus walked on water.)
While most of the members remained clothed, or largely so, Representative Kevin Yoder of Kansas decided to disrobe entirely, as reported first by Politico on Sunday. This sent most of the members fleeing for the shore, said a participant, and prompted a harsh rebuke the next day from Representative Eric Cantor, the House majority leader who was on the trip but did not swim in the sea.
Now, I’ve admitted to this practice myself, although I’ve mainly limited it to the Great Lakes and a few unnamed farm ponds and so forth. But I hope this admission has more grace than Yoder’s:
“A year ago, my wife, Brooke, and I joined colleagues for dinner at the Sea of Galilee in Israel. After dinner I followed some members of Congress in a spontaneous and very brief dive into the sea and regrettably I jumped into the water without a swimsuit.”
I, on the other hand, regret nothing. Right, Borden? I certainly don’t regret this spontaneous gift from Coozledad:
Yoder, row your bone ashore.
A year ago, my wife and I
Had some dinner
Drank so much I pissed my clothes
(a beginner)
So I dived into the sea
(for a brief rinse)
Ben Quayle had to follow me
(only makes sense)
Refrain-
Yoder pack your junk away
Gal-li-lee-uh
No one here but old Ben Quayle
Wants to see yah.
This morning my Facebook was ablaze with Tony Scott suicide news, with a few expressions of disapproval. As usual, more was revealed, and now it looks as though he might have had some reasons. (Or might not have.) His work was uneven, but like his brother, he favored that lush cinematography that featured lots of blowing curtains. The first film of his I saw was “The Hunger,” which I remember as a pretty good guilty-pleasure Whitley Streiber thriller and a fairly mediocre adaptation, but quite lovely to look at, and isn’t that half the battle? I also remember the audible revulsion when Susan Sarandon kissed Catherine Deneuve. Well, that was Columbus in the ’80s.
Whatever made him go over that bridge railing, I guess he had his reasons.
Tuesday, is it? Well, I hope whatever you do today, you have your own reasons.
Dexter said on August 21, 2012 at 3:09 am
About 1:30 PM Monday a rumor started on the internet that Mr. Scott jumped off that bridge because he had inoperable brain cancer. Within fifteen minutes Entertainment Weekly as well as The New York Daily News had it confirmed on their online pages.
The Todd Akin story dominated the news Monday, and my friends are hoping he will run and not pull out, because they now believe he is indeed toast and this will kill his momentum forever, and he has been steadily creeping up 🙂 on his opponent.
But the story that just makes me say “WHAT the FUCK!?” is the post on Ryan’s Facebook page stating that his fave band is Rage Against the Machine. Well, Tom Morello sets Ryan straight here:
http://theinterrobang.com/2012/08/ratms-tom-morello-blasts-romneys-vp-pickunlikely-rage-fan/
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Dexter said on August 21, 2012 at 3:13 am
Here is a segment of the above linked quotation by RATM’s Tom Morello, made to Rolling Stone:
“Don’t mistake me, I clearly see that Ryan has a whole lotta “rage” in him: A rage against women, a rage against immigrants, a rage against workers, a rage against gays, a rage against the poor, a rage against the environment. Basically the only thing he’s not raging against is the privileged elite he’s groveling in front of for campaign contributions”….
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basset said on August 21, 2012 at 7:23 am
I could not name you one Rage Against the Machine song, sorry. Favorite band? Nobody current.
Been skinny-dipping a few times, though, including the Bloomington quarries in the 70s; believe they’re all fenced off and inaccessible now.
Bridge jump? No, not yet. Wouldn’t do it that way, it’d need to look like an accident for insurance reasons.
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James said on August 21, 2012 at 7:24 am
Another nutjob that believes that batshit rape theory is Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association, purveyor of even more craziness.
When they start citing themselves as sources, you know they’re wading in an intellectual cesspool.
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alex said on August 21, 2012 at 8:04 am
Never overestimate the intelligence of the American people. I just read that Akin still outpolls McCaskill and that the seniors in Florida are buying Ryan’s outright lies about how Obama’s the one who’s taking away their Medicare.
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coozledad said on August 21, 2012 at 8:57 am
Alex: Paul Ryan is fully on board with Akin’s multiple definitions of permissable non-consensual intercourse (Kentuck sister, Rohypnol lurker, Daddy’s Little girl). Like torture, the Republicans will seek ways to redefine rape so their not-at-all-alarming psychosexual habits are gradually mainstreamed.
They’ve already started rehabilitating the Klan and its satellite organizations like the FRC through idiots like Dana Milbank and Christian Identity Movement front groups like the Texas school textbook commission. Pretty soon, material like this is going to be taught in national public schools:
http://wonkette.com/481427/things-you-can-learn-in-a-christian-high-school-textbook-for-real-part-i
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Peter said on August 21, 2012 at 8:59 am
Alex, I had heard the same thing – Akin’s still in front. And for those of you who think that might be based on surveys taken before the gaffe, the poll was taken Sunday night. It appears that the largest response is that it was one really stupid comment, but we’re still voting on party lines.
Piet Hein said that the opposite of stupidity is the opposite stupidity. I think he’s on to something.
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coozledad said on August 21, 2012 at 9:19 am
All round nice guy Mike Huckabee loves him some rape babies ’bout much as he loves fried chicken sandwiches and his insulin pump.
http://gawker.com/5936386/mike-huckabee-would-like-to-remind-you-that-rape-has-created-some-extraordinary-people
I can think of at least one animal that was tortured to death by his boy who wishes Huck had been castrated.
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Prospero said on August 21, 2012 at 9:55 am
GOPer swimming team could try this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuz5TKzaJoE
but Loudon Wainright III would probably get a cease and desist order, since he obviously is very bad at suffering fools.
Maybe he’d make an exception for this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpdFEQ-983s
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Prospero said on August 21, 2012 at 10:00 am
Akin and the GOPers are involved in a concerted effort to provide this ahole with a defense at trial:
http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2012/07/utah-tea-party-activist-charged-with.html
After all, Willard pals around with a rapist.
Who wouldn’t want to kiss Catherine Deneuve?
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baldheadeddork said on August 21, 2012 at 10:04 am
I don’t see Akin going anywhere. He’s 65, he’s given up his House seat to make this run at the Senate, and his top campaign staffers are his wife and his son. I don’t see how the GOP establishment can really put any pressure on him, and since they were backing his opponents in the primary I don’t think Akin is inclined to listen in the first place. He might lose the election, but he’s not going to quit in disgrace over something he really believes is true.
Plus there is this: Akin really does have the GOP by the balls. They can’t retake the Senate without Missouri and the polls indicate he’s still got a decent chance of beating McCaskill. A PPP poll made after Akin’s remarks found that 87% had heard what Akin said and 75% disagreed with it – but Akin still had a one-point lead over McCaskill.
(Let that marinate for a moment. Claire McCaskill is so unliked by Missouri voters they still prefer Todd Akin.)
Rove and the NRSC are making a big deal about pulling their support from Akin, but if he stays they’ll be back.
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churchlady said on August 21, 2012 at 10:27 am
So some Congressmen went skinny-dipping in Israel. Were laws broken? Relationships ruined? What’s the story here? Why should anyone be concerned about some people swimming in the Sea of Galilee? Honestly, people seem to have their panties in a twist over nothing.
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Icarus said on August 21, 2012 at 10:28 am
So these doctors that told Akins about the secretions? Would they happen to be the imaginary gay friends of Elizabeth Santorium?
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Catherine said on August 21, 2012 at 10:47 am
Back to Tony Scott for a moment. One of my favorite of his projects was Numb3rs, the CBS show about a crime-solving math geek and his FBI agent brother. Dave Krumholtz, who played the Caltech math prof, posted this anecdote yesterday: http://www.twitlonger.com/show/iudoq3. Here’s my favorite part: “He spent way more money than he should have on shooting that episode. He had ACTUAL Vietnamese gangbangers, whom he knew personally, play themselves on the show. He was wild and big and crazy and uncontrollable and he gave it his all, every moment, because he believed in his crew, his cast, and the show.”
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coozledad said on August 21, 2012 at 11:00 am
churchlady: The FBI doesn’t get involved in cases of skinny dipping. It is, however deeply interested in AIPAC’s collusion with Israel’s spying operations in the US. This was an AIPAC funded junket.
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Bob (not Greene) said on August 21, 2012 at 11:18 am
Churchlady,
Were laws broken? I have no idea. I’m guessing if Yoder had done that at a public lake in his home of Kansas, he would have been handed at least a citation for public indecency. Did it ruin relationships? Well, I don’t know about “ruined,” but I’ll bet there a a few more of Yoder’s colleagues who consider him a complete oddball. And if I was a constituent, it might give me some pause to think if this guy’s judgment is so poor that he thinks it’s OK to get all naked in front of his co-workers and their families and have swim with them, then, yeah, I think I’d want to know that.
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Maggie Jochild said on August 21, 2012 at 11:48 am
I have personally known two women who were raped and got pregnant from the rape. Both of them were lesbians, definitely not in situations where any ambiguity existed. One of them was my lover at the time. She had a miscarriage at about two months. The other friend had an abortion.
I don’t believe either of them are “over it”, still. The trauma of unwanted pregnancy on top of rape was more than most folks quite can handle.
I’ve read that 75-80% of rape-begun pregnancies produce male offspring. Interesting statistic.
I am so angry about this, about the whole mainstreaming of rape and porn culture and women’s bodies being pushed back into open ownership by the state, church, and whatever man is in the fucking vicinity. It is bedrock to the Republican platform, this pushback against the essential truth of feminism, that OUR bodies belong to and are defined by US, nobody else.
Republican policies cannot be promulgated if women have full citizenship and agency, and the boys in power know it. And it’s either just fine with the idiots who vote with them (as long as they keep that white supremacy at the top of the message, they’ll having their base) or it’s acceptable because to actually stop and reason out the connections would destroy right-wing mindsets, based on fear and avoidance rather than logic and the ability to live comfortably with more than one belief in the room.
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Julie Robinson said on August 21, 2012 at 11:56 am
Our paper had an Israeli policeman telling the AP that nudity is illegal in Israel, but as Bob says, the bigger question is Yoder’s judgment as to when it’s appropriate to go skinny-dipping. A Congressional representative in a foreign country amid mixed company fails all the judgment tests. But I suppose he’ll be re-elected anyway.
Catherine, we used to watch Numb3rs too. The rest of my family is rather geeky about math although I have to confess I didn’t understand most of those plot points. But it was an above average whodunit, and I’m sad about whatever caused Tony Scott to jump off that bridge.
Cooz, I bow.
Edit: And also to you, Maggie.
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baldheadeddork said on August 21, 2012 at 12:01 pm
@Churchlady – If Rep. Yoder had been on a personal vacation I’d agree with you. But he was there as part of a Congressional delegation representing the United States. No laws were broken, but he did embarrass all of us.
@Coozledad – I don’t believe AIPAC was connected to the FBI investigation. After the Israel junket ended Ryan went on to Cyprus on a trip paid for by Cypriot lobbyists. Ryan did not report that trip, which caused the FBI to open an investigation.
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Prospero said on August 21, 2012 at 12:39 pm
Funniest thing about the Galilee skinny-dipping is the image conjured by the detail in every story about Yoder getting a “tongue lashing” from Eric Cantor. Hooboy, that prospect would surely set the worst miscreant on the straight and nerrow. Fearsome, that Cantor. Pardon me, but this sounds as scary as getting taken to the woodshed by Aint Bea.
The Yoder business in perspective seems a little like the the Anthony Wiener underpants fiasco. Running naked into a Christian holy place seems more embarrassing to me than taking a cell-phone photo of your U-trou, but It’s OK if You’re a Republican, apparently. Is photographing and texting your boxer-briefs illegal. I kinda doubt it. If it is, why?
BHDork, AIPAC is most certainly intimately involved in active Israeli spying operations in the US. Alleged Americans like Shelden Adelson fund such efforts when not giving golden showers to Willard Windsock. That’s how Israel got their first batch of fissionable material to start building the nuclear arsenal they keep at Dimona in the Negev that motivates any effort by Iran to acquire nukes. Invaluable ally, Israel.
The Hunger is a semi-great movie, the rest of Tony Scott’s movies, particularly the ear-damaging Top Gun and Days of Thunder, unwatchable for me. I prefer loud rock ‘n’ roll for assaulting my tympanic membranes. I liked Man on Fire, with Denzel and I thought the Pelham 1 2 3 remake was an improvement on an estimable original. Enemy of the State is very enjoyable, with a good performance elicited from Will Smith and the best in a long while from Gene Hackman (reminiscent of his role in The Conversation).
I enjoyed Numb3rs too, though I rarely had a clue what Charlie was talking about. Some stuff about game theory, maybe. But the way his explanations were written was always excellent. The show also dealt very well with family stuff, and Judd Hirsch was excellent.
Akin’s whole “proof is in the puddin'” thing is a lot like throwing witches in the moat to see if they float. Just as sound scientifically, too. And when you think about it, the airplane bidness that has voters so het up in MO over McCaskill, well that sounds like Windsock justifyin squeezing every last thin dime within the law out of his IRS dealings to me.
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coozledad said on August 21, 2012 at 12:56 pm
Baldheadeddork: Thanks. Was that in the Politico piece? I probably blanked out after I read Yoder’s statement “I went in without a bathing suit” and wondered if he had to hire someone to help him craft that line.
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Prospero said on August 21, 2012 at 1:14 pm
“At the latter I was informal, at the former I wore my suit”
The national press is FUBARing the Akins story bigtime. The real deal is that Ayn Ryan is right there on the same page as Akin, and the handwringing from GOPers about Akin is intended to obfuscate that inescapable fact. Right wingnuts on the net are trying to draw equivalencies to something Whoopi Goldberg may have said about “rape” and “rape-rape” Seriously. Whoopi Goldberg? Godawmighty that is lamer than that BS about that guy Toure. How is it, when “conservatives” say what they all really think, it’s a misstatement?
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2012/08/20/todd_akin_s_legitimate_rape_comment_not_a_misstatement_but_a_worldview_.html?wpisrc=newsletter_tis
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Jeff Borden said on August 21, 2012 at 1:15 pm
I’ll take a skinny-dipping asshole from Kansas over a rape-denying douchebag from Missouri any ol’ day. Todd Akin is beyond the pale, but dammit, he has an excellent chance of being a new member of the so-called “greatest deliberative body on earth.” In addition to being overly interested in the sexual activities of women, he’s also one who wants the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act struck down. He is a very, very, very bad man.
Charley Pierce has a thought-provoking and quite disturbing essay up at esquire.com, where he wonders whether we are not where the U.S. was in 1850. His theory is that we are a lot more tribal now. . .and one of the tribes has a lot of guns, a lot of rage and is busy creating its own history and its own reality. We know the GOP will do nothing because it cannot. The money boys see the culture warriors and religious zealots as useful idiots, who will vote on issues like abortion or health care but actually will be ensuring the 1%ers an even richer future. This is your modern Republican Party.
God, I hate it.
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churchlady said on August 21, 2012 at 1:26 pm
The president nominated this guy for a judgeship?
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/11/politics/11JUDG.html
This 52-year-old nominee, James Leon Holmes, former president of Arkansas Right to Life, seeks a seat on the Federal District Court in Little Rock, his hometown.
He also believes that rape doesn’t cause pregnancies….
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Jeff Borden said on August 21, 2012 at 1:36 pm
Apparently, CNN is reporting that Todd Akins is staying in the race.
And you know what? The goober may win. This is your modern GOP, folks. God help us all.
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Bitter Scribe said on August 21, 2012 at 1:42 pm
Look at it from Akin’s POV. If he quits, his political career is over—he won’t even get a job as a lobbyist. But if he sticks it out and gets elected, not only is he employed for the next six years, but he’ll be a hero to the bat-poop-crazy brigade.
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baldheadeddork said on August 21, 2012 at 1:53 pm
@Churchlady – James Holmes was put on the bench by George W. Bush. (The story you linked to is from April 2003 when he was being nominated.)
It’s really sad that takes all the surprise out of the story, that it makes sense for a Republican president to nominate someone with those views for a lifetime seat on the Federal bench, but that’s where we are.
@Cooz – I think I saw the backstory on the FBI investigation into Yoder on TPM. (Wait, I just double checked and it was TPM, but the FBI was investigating another Rep (Michael Grimm, R-NY) on that junket for the undisclosed trip to Cyprus.)
@Prospero – I don’t think I said AIPAC wasn’t involved in spying, just that they weren’t connected to this particular FBI investigation.
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Jolene said on August 21, 2012 at 1:55 pm
The president nominated this guy for a judgeship?
You saw the date, right? Wasn’t this president.
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Prospero said on August 21, 2012 at 2:34 pm
Gutdom, Bain Capital’s past is rife with incredibly sleazy excuses for human beings. These guys aren’t purely evil bastards like the death squad organizers Bain laundered money for in Central America. Just crooks of a feather with Willard hisownself.
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Brandon said on August 21, 2012 at 3:18 pm
In all the obituaries of Tony Scott there are no mentions of True Romance and hardly any of Beverly Hills Cop II.
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Sherri said on August 21, 2012 at 3:21 pm
Republican policies cannot be promulgated if women have full citizenship and agency, and the boys in power know it.
Preach it, Maggie. This is the real story.
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baldheadeddork said on August 21, 2012 at 3:33 pm
For Nance:
Guess who?
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Jolene said on August 21, 2012 at 3:40 pm
A bit of background on Akin and why it’s unlikely that he’ll drop out: http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2012/08/21/todd-akin-the-scariest-man-in-the-gop/
Nothing to be feared more than a man with God on his side and no allegiances to tie his hands.
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Peter said on August 21, 2012 at 3:48 pm
#32 – Well, I’m not so good at guessing – I would have bet the farm it was Sarah Palin.
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Prospero said on August 21, 2012 at 5:14 pm
Life’s inscrutable mysteries: women voting for GOPers, and Andrew Sullivan continuing to identify as Republican.
GOPers won’t even adopt those “snowflake babies” that get ’em all choked up when stem cell research comes up in conversation, and they sure as shit not going to let a pair of moms or a pair of dad’s do the adopting.
And anybody that believes the Willard canard that tithing to LDS is charitable giving should try selling that crock to gay couples in Cali.
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churchlady said on August 21, 2012 at 5:15 pm
I’m embarrassed to have linked to an 8 year old story. In my defense, I saw a headline on The Maddow Blog “Attack on Judicial Nominee Leads Senate Panel to Delay Vote” and assumed it referred to a current story. It makes a lot more sense that this was a Bush nominee that the Dems objected to.
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Deborah said on August 21, 2012 at 6:17 pm
I can’t even stand to look at Akin. His plastered comb over and his beady eyes make my skin crawl. What is it with perverts like that?
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Prospero said on August 21, 2012 at 6:23 pm
Congressman Steve King, just keeps on giving, jumps into own mouth with both feet:
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/08/steve-king-never-heard-anyone-getting-pregnant-statutory-rape-incest/56014/
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Dorothy said on August 21, 2012 at 6:51 pm
We need to arrange a meeting between Congressman Steve King and Jaycee Dugard. To name one such victim of statutory rape. Yee gods the mind reels!
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Prospero said on August 21, 2012 at 6:56 pm
I’ve been sending small donations here and there to Sherrod Brown’s campaign, since it became clear that Wall St. asshat types seem more worried about him these days than about Elizabeth Warren. Anyway, I got a hilarious email from the campaign today illustrating what dicks conserva tubesters are with their innuendoe and outright lies, and their delusions of Journalistic identity. The missive contains this anecdote:
I just had to share this email my mom got from a conservative blogger.
Dear Ms. Shultz,
We are doing an expose on journalists in the elite media who socialize with elected officials they are assigned to cover. We have found numerous photos of you with Sen. Sherrod Brown. In one of them, you appear to be hugging him.
Care to comment?
Sometimes, even in the midst of all the mud-slinging, you just have to laugh. Of course, Mom being Mom, she just had to write back.
Dear Mr. [Name Deleted]:
I am surprised you did not find a photo of me kissing U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown so hard he passes out from lack of oxygen. He’s really cute.
He’s also my husband.
You know that, right?
Connie Schultz.
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Jolene said on August 21, 2012 at 7:55 pm
Prosperous, if you have cash to spare, you should consider contributing to Claire McCaskill. Even with all that’s happened in the past few days, I think she remains more endangered than Sherrod Brown.
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Bitter Scribe said on August 21, 2012 at 9:02 pm
If they had said “a legitimate rape victim would have gotten medical care which includes the morning-after pill,” their argument, while no less obnoxious or insulting, would have at least had the appearance of logic. But they think the morning-after pill is oral abortion, or something, and so are reduced to biological fantasies about virtuous hormones.
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baldheadeddork said on August 21, 2012 at 9:12 pm
Jolene – I understand that McCaskill is the most endangered incumbent Dem in this cycle, but I can’t bring myself to send money to someone who’s spent the last six years pissing on most of what I want the Democratic party to stand for.
There are some really good, unapologetic Democrats running this year in seats we can hold from retiring Dems or take from the Republicans. Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts is the best known, but you should also check out (and I’d encourage everyone to support) Richard Carmona in Arizona, Martin Heinrich in New Mexico, Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin, Maize Hirono from Hawaii, and even Joe Donnelly in Indiana has a shot. All of them get my support before McCaskill.
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Jolene said on August 21, 2012 at 9:19 pm
Just saw that, in @41, I typed “Prosperous” rather than “Prospero”. My fingers must have a mind of their own.
Baldy, if I may call you that, I certainly support all the other candidates you mention. We have to give McCaskill some credit. She was an early Obama supporter and voted for the ACA w/o any of the shenanigans that Lieberman and Nelson tried to pull. Obviously, she’s in a tough state for Democrats. If she does get re-elected, she should have a bit more freedom.
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Suzanne said on August 21, 2012 at 9:31 pm
The guy skinny dipping in the Sea of Galilee. I’ve seen a few Facebook comments about how it’s just the liberal press stirring up trouble. I think not. Shows a definite frat boy mentality which is really not what I think is appropriate on an official visit to foreign soil.
I checked out National Review Online last night. Even the majority of comments there were that Rep. Rape is a wingnut and should move on.
This is pretty awesome: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-are-republicans-getting-a-sign-from-above/2012/08/21/3424ba0a-ebd2-11e1-9ddc-340d5efb1e9c_story.html
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alex said on August 21, 2012 at 9:36 pm
Considering all of what the pro-life movement embraces, you’d almost think dead babies is an afterthought, a ruse to tug at the heartstrings. If it were really about preventing abortion it would be all about promoting birth control, not demonizing it as one and the same.
But, hey, up is down and down is up. These same people scream about their liberties being taken away when all they’ve ever wanted to do is take away yours. Ask them what freedoms they’ve lost and they’re flummoxed, but we’ve become a fascist state and blah blah blah.
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Sue said on August 21, 2012 at 9:48 pm
There are so many damned politicians in my gynecologist’s exam room these days you can’t crack a speculum without it slapping one of them in the face. Get the hell out, you nosy shitheads. And if you won’t, then let’s really get government into women’s private lives by providing free health care and education to every one of this country’s offspring, no matter whose mom it belongs to. Cancel one of your goddamn wars or maybe cross the next two or three off the to-do list and take care of the babies you insist must be thrown into the cold hard world you’re creating.
What a bunch of assholes.
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Minnie said on August 21, 2012 at 10:25 pm
Go, Maggie! Go, Sue!
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baldheadeddork said on August 21, 2012 at 11:42 pm
Probably means I’ll never get hired by the New Yorker, but just wrote this on my facebook page and wanted to bounce it off y’all:
It’s worth remembering that what Todd Akin said was neither new or unique. Anti-abortion advocates and conservative politicians have been claiming women can’t get pregnant from “legitimate rape” for decades. One was made a federal judge by George W. Bush ten years ago.
The evidence that Akin was absolutely, unquestionably wrong isn’t new, either. The CDC did a report in 1996 attempting to knock this down, with no noticeable effect. Any freshman biology teacher with a marginally working upper brain stem could destroy the idea of magic spermicidal secretions. Many have tried.
But, if you take a step back, it’s equally obvious there’s nothing surprising about this at all. Pick anything tangentially tied to science or reason and, if it’s more controversial or politically lucrative than Bunnies Are Soft, there has probably been a propaganda and disinformation campaign about it that has convinced a large number of our fellow Americans that black is white, up is down, and science is just a liberal scheme. If something can’t be proven to the satisfaction of people who may not want to be convinced, then any crackpot theory is as valid as all the evidence in the world.
We’ve created entire industries for inventing and perpetuating fairy tales. Lying your ass off about the effects of CO2, supply-side economics, tax cuts that pay for themselves, the legitimacy of a president’s birth certificate, or the risk of pregnancy after rape isn’t just something you can do without shame – it’s often a great career move.
But here’s the worst: We’ve made this ecosphere of bullshit so encompassing that it’s possible for a child to go from Pre-K through grad school without suffering a moment of critical thought. A world where you can go from Lunchables to law school and Todd Akin isn’t an object lesson to avoid. He’s the goal.
America. Fuck…yeah.
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