Guest column by Erin Nanasi from Poking at Snakes:
As we all watched, glued to our televisions and computers, the Republican congress barely avoided the so called fiscal cliff. Included in this oh-so patriotic bill were things from NASCAR funding to VAWA oh wait, no, I'm sorry. NASCAR-yes. The Violence Against Women Act? Nope.
What is it about a bloodied woman that the GOP likes so much? Is it the trembling split lip? The chunks of hair missing from a woman's scalp? The bruising? What is it exactly that would cause an entire political party to tell female victims of rape and domestic violence to go fuck themselves? Well, duh, the GAYS and the INDIANS.
Yes, the new and unimproved version of the GOP refused to reauthorize VAWA because it would have helped lesbians and Native American women receive help and treatment. Want proof? Here:
The current term of Congress ended on Wednesday without re-authorizing the Violence Against Women Act, a nearly two-decade-old measure to aid victims of domestic and sexual violence.
Though the Senate approved the VAWA last year with bipartisan support, Republicans in the U.S. House had opposed the legislation because it added new protections for illegal immigrants, LGBT individuals, and Native Americans.
“The House Republican leadership’s failure to take up and pass the Senate’s bipartisan and inclusive VAWA bill is inexcusable,” Sen. Patty Murray said in a statement to The Maddow Blog. “This is a bill that passed with 68 votes in the Senate and that extends the bill’s protections to 30 million more women. But this seems to be how House Republican leadership operates. No matter how broad the bipartisan support, no matter who gets hurt in the process, the politics of the right wing of their party always comes first.”
Rather than vote on the Senate version of the VAWA, House Republicans passed their own watered-down version of the bill that omitted the new provisions. The White House warned it would veto the House bill, which was opposed by groups like the National Network to End Domestic Violence, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, the American Bar Association, and others because it ignored vulnerable populations. (From Raw Story)
A bi-partisan bill, backed by the Senate, fails in the Tea Party house because Native American women and lesbians should, what, expect to get raped and beat up? Aren't real people, so they don't deserve protection and help? This is disgusting, it's wrong and it is certainly not Christian. The Tea Party congress's behavior, however, does mesh perfectly with their twisted and demented version of Christianity, so well done, Baggers. In 2010, our own apathy let men like Steve King and Eric Cantor and John Boehner and the rest of the Tea Party congress take over. And look what we got-nothing. The 112th Congress is the most unpopular in modern history and the most unproductive that I can remember. The icing on the cake is their absolute hatred of women. As a woman, and a survivor of domestic violence and rape, this hits pretty close to home for me. There are millions of women in America tonight who are shocked and saddened by the misogyny of the Republican party.
I guess we only matter when we're pregnant."
I guess we only matter when we're pregnant."
And even then, we don't matter much. Only the fetus does.
ReplyDeleteSo true. And once the fetus turns into a real live breathing human being, tough tooty for them.
DeleteIf women don't want to be raped they shouldn't have been born women.
ReplyDeleteAlso if lesbians don't want to be raped into normal sexual desire for wiener they shouldn't be too open about their gayness.
And if effeminate men don't want to be beaten up and maybe raped and killed they shouldn't be too faggy!
Stating that these positions are despicable or evil are infringements on as an American Male.
I'm just curious why so many - not all - American men feel so threatened, especially by women.
DeleteMy position as Ambassador prevents me from making a tasteless yet hilarious comment about Michele Bachman.
ReplyDeleteWell, shucks!
DeleteI'm just curious why so many - not all - American men feel so threatened, especially by women.
ReplyDeleteThe male authoritarian personality is threatened by anyone or anything different, not just by women. The authoritarian/conservative has a more pronounced amygdala, the primitive so-called "reptilian brain" center of the fight or flight instinct.
“Tory voters found to have larger 'primitive' lobe in brain”
How interesting and scientifically proven. Yes, I had to look "amygdala" up).
Delete"The amygdala (Latin, corpus amygdaloideum) is an almond-shape set of neurons located deep in the brain's medial temporal lobe.
Shown to play a key role in the processsing of emotions, the amygdala forms part of the limbic system.
In humans and other animals, this subcortical brain structure is linked to both fear responses and pleasure.
Its size is positively correlated with aggressive behavior across species."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/a/amygdala.htm
Yeah....lizard brains...it fits.
DeleteAh piss on it. Dick Cheney or some other old white republican must have kicked hell out of poor Michele Bachman to make her so damn stupid.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm glad you came back to enlighten us with that. ;)
DeleteSomebody must have been busy as hell on election day kicking all those folks in the head who voted for her.
One would expect a party of religious fanatics to be enablers of domestic abuse. It's the paradigm of humanity's relationship with "God".
ReplyDeleteInfidel, there's a lot of truth to this - far more than people realize. And their women really do have Stockholm's Syndrome.
DeleteWomen, I tell you, next thing they are gonna wanna vote or sumptin. I heard of the stupid pork that was added to the Bill. Idiots. Extreme reform is needed in the Republican Party to re-establish itself as a viable political entity. Funny, I feel somewhat the same about a lot of Democrats. I really feel good about the NASCAR thingee, though...we do need a sport in America where you go around in circles at great speed and still pretty much end up right where you started. Only Congress moves a lot slower.
ReplyDeleteAnd then there' this freshman neo-Neanderthal:
Delete""To have women serving in infantry, though, could impair the mission-essential tasks of those units," Cotton said on Laura Ingraham's radio show, according to ThinkProgress. "And that’s been proven in study after study, it’s nature, upper body strength, and physical movements, and speed, and endurance, and so forth."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/09/tom-cotton-women-in-infantry_n_2439468.html?ref=topbar&utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false#sb=660517,b=facebook
Cherie......we don't even matter when we're pregnant. it's the little fetus that counts above all else. gah.
ReplyDeleteTruer words were never spoken.
DeleteThat's an excellent post, L.P. Your conclusions about misogyny and GOP leaders and pols slavishly kow-towing to the radical-conservative base are right on target. That disgusting spectacle, now their standard operating procedure, is like an addict selling his body for his next fix: disgusting.
ReplyDeleteI have a strong hunch many a Republican senator only voted for the bill because he or she knew their House counterparts never would, so the bill was doomed no matter what the Senate did.
I have another strong hunch that in many a congressional district with a radical-conservative representative, women make up the majority of voters. I'd like to know what women voters in those districts who voted for their local tea party crazy person were thinking. Spite job, maybe? Some naive notion their local tea party crazy person is only in politics to secure smaller government, lower taxes and some more "morning in America" feel-goodness?
Or, maybe it's just a case of stupid falling for crazy.
I'm not the only one who, because of true life experiences, feels these Republican men have all the characteristics of spouse abusers. Being physically attacked is just one of the manifestations of abuse; there's also control, manipulation, emotional and verbal abuse. Denial and Stockholm Syndrome, otoh, are atypical characteristics of the victims -- even smart educated women. But, as you suggest, when you add "stupid falling for crazy" to the equation, there really isn't a whole hell of a lot of hope.
Delete