Three women who looked to be 35-40 were overheard recently ragging on President Obama and carrying on about how he's from Kenya and a Muslim and that the country is going to h.e.double hockey sticks (my euphemism, not theirs) if he's re-elected.
Not only do these women obviously rely exclusively on Fox and other right-wing media for information and "news", they are worried about the wrong thing.
I am sure that there's not a chance in the world that President Obama is likely to break into their homes and assault (euphemism for another word) them.
I can't same for Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and their Republican friends, such as Missouri Congressman and Senate candidate Todd Akin who claimed that women who are victims of what he described as "legitimate rape" have some kind of magical ability to prevent themselves from becoming pregnant as a result of that rape. Another Republican Romney buddy, Indiana Senate candidate and Romney endorsee Richard Mourdock claimed that pregnancies that result from rape "is something that God intended to happen." Then there's Wisconsin state assemblyman Roger Rivard, who's running for re-election and had been endorsed by Paul Ryan when he said in an interview that his father once told him, "'Just remember, Roger, some girls, they rape so easy. It may be rape the next morning.'"
So, while Messers Romney, Ryan, Akin, Mourdock, Rivard or any of their ideological brethren won't be personally breaking into the homes of the three overheard anti-Obama ladies or personally assaulting them, they are in far greater danger should those men attain/retain positions of leadership in this country of being revictimized many times over should they or anyone they know be unfortunate enough to be raped by anybody.
It's all over the news. Women-hating, war on women, assault on women, misogyny.
It's in anti-female laws that are being introduced and enacted right and far right.
Laws that would restrict women's legal right to determine their own reproductive destiny.
Laws that denyequal pay for women who perform the same work as their male counterparts.
Laws that permit rape by transvaginal ultrasound as blackmail for a medically unnecessary procedure in exchange for a constitutionally permitted and otherwise legal abortion.
It's from radio shout hosts who slander and demean females who speak publically about the need for certain types of female-related healthcare coverage, or food accessibility based on socio-economic segments of society.
It's everywhere these days, or so it seems.
But I believe what's going on isn't hatred, despite what it looks like or sounds like.
I believe it's fear.
I truly believe that the men engaging in such behavior and proposing these laws do not hate women. I believe they are scared of women.
Scared? How so?
Based on the one thing women do that men cannot do. Procreate.
Given that only women can get pregnant and give birth, these men who are engaging in repression and degradation of women, in their infinite sense of insecurity and inadequacy, must control the when, how and under what circumstances women get pregnant and give birth. Otherwise, they fear the inevitability of becoming irrelevant.
This fear is certainly nothing new. It's centuries old.
Consider the current contention that requiring employer-provided heath insurance to cover women's contraception might violate employers' moral or religious beliefs. And consider that those moral/religious beliefs are defined in terms of women's reproductive lives.
Just who, pray-tell, dreamed up those religious beliefs in the first place and who continues to dictate them and enforce them on threat of excommunication from their religious institution?
Men.
Not women.
Men.
I'm far too conservative to believe that anybody should be able to use their ideology or religious dicta to deny anybody else her personal freedom or individual liberty.
Perhaps its supporters haven't noticed, but since the 112th Congress took office last month, it has engaged in a bait-(promise to focus on jobs, jobs, jobs)and-switch tactic that has included misreading the U.S. Constitution, two members being AWOL at the House's swearing in ceremony, all things abortion, reality-evading redifinition of rape and, especially, spending). Maybe that's to hide the fact that it has done zip on the jobs, jobs, jobs front.
So Congress's lazer been the focus has shifted almost entirely to spending. Cut this, eliminate that, screw everyone except themselves.
Needless to say, this body has less credibility than Lucy holding a football. So, here's a very brief primer on how they can gain at least a little credibilty:
Start with yourself. Yes, members of Congress. You set an example.
Now that you have been elected/re-elected, you are now part of the government that Ronald Reagan said is the problem.
So you can take a truly conservative approach to start setting things right.
1. Introduce and vote for a bill to cut your and all members of Congress pay back to 1990 levels.
2. Introduce and vote for a bill to cut the size of your staff at least by half.
3. Introduce and vote for a bill to end all government-funded Congressional travel except for one weekly round trip between a member of Congress's district and Washington, D.C.
4. Introduce and vote for a bill to eliminate your government-funded healthcare. (Yes, you will have to buy your own private coverage, but that will have two positive benefits: One, put you in the same fix as the people you work for and, two, greatly please one of your biggest campaign funders -- the insurance industry.)
5. Introduce and vote for emergency legislation to end the Bush tax cuts for the rich, including you, that will become effective immediately.
Granted all but ending number 5 don't even qualify as small potatoes when it comes to reducing the deficit. So here are a few other measures that will really make a huge difference and, in fact, might actually move the budget from the red territory it's been in since GWBush got a hold of it back to being in the black, like WJClinton left it.
1. Introduce and vote for legislation to end U.S. funding of other countries' defense by closing U.S. bases in other countries, except South Korea, which we are obligated by treaty to defend from North Korean aggression.
It is time to be truly conservative and take care of ourselves and end the very liberal government spending on defending countries, like Germany, Japan, Italy, and others, that are capable of taking care of themselves.
