USA creeps closer to 'A Handmaid's Tale'

Democrats tore into House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R) for preventing women from testifying before a hearing examining the Obama administration’s new regulation requiring employers and insurers to provide contraception coverage to their employees. Republicans oppose the administration’s rule and have sponsored legislation that would allow employers to limit the availability of birth control to women.

Ranking committee member Elijah Cummings (D) had asked Issa to include a female witness at the hearing, but the Chairman refused, arguing that “[...] the hearing is not about reproductive rights and contraception but instead about the Administration’s actions as they relate to freedom of religion and conscience [the] congressman insisted that the hearing should focus on the rules’ alleged infringement on “religious liberty,” not contraception coverage, and denied the request. Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Eleanor Holmes Norton walked out of the hearing in protest of his decision, citing frustration over the fact that the first panel of witnesses consisted only of male religious leaders [...]

From here:

I can see why the Republicans would bar female religious leaders from the hearing; they would bring their wombs, whose dangerous *humours* they fear.

ADDED: And. Also. This.

On February 14th the Virginia State House passed an anti-abortion measure that would mandate that a woman seeking an abortion be required to undergo what is called a trans-vaginal ultrasound. This is a type of pelvic ultrasound that is used to look at a woman’s reproductive organs. Unlike a normal ultrasound, this type of ultrasound is an invasive procedure. A woman lies on her back with her feet in stirrups, as the health care provider places a probe covered with a condom and lubrication into her vagina.

State-sanctioned rape for women needing an abortion.

That's Spring Spheres to you, bunny!

Every year I find a news item or an urgent issue that inspires a post about Easter.

In 2011, this has to be the one.

A teenager volunteering at a Seattle elementary school was apparently told to use the politically correct name “spring spheres” when she tried giving kids plastic Easter eggs filled with candy.

But a Seattle school board spokesperson told the Star it has not been able to confirm whether the incident actually happened.

“They said I could do it as long as I called the treats ‘spring spheres.’ I couldn’t call them Easter eggs,” a 16-year-old named Jessica told a Seattle radio station.

Ah, "political correctness", a term now pejoratively used by those who are too intellectually lazy, too ideologically religious or too politically entrenched to accept a challenge to their bigotry.

The incident above sounds like a humour-challenged fundamentalist misunderstood a comment or invented one to create the perception that there's some anti-christian "War on Easter" being waged.

That's actually quite amusing, given the pagan origins of Easter and the christians' systemic appropriation of beliefs and traditions that pre-date the alleged resurrection of their saviour.

Consider the squeamishness of RWNJ (right wing nut jobs) when certain words from *down there* are uttered publicly. From here:

At one point [Democratic State Representative Scott] Randolph suggested that his wife "incorporate her uterus" to stop Republicans from pushing measures that would restrict abortions. Republicans, after all, wouldn't want to further regulate a Florida business.

Apparently the GOP leadership of the House didn't like the one-liner.

They told Democrats that Randolph is not to discuss body parts on the House floor.

This led to a hysterically witty tweet campaign, in response to the Republican Stoopidity, with evocative Twitter hashtags: #uterati #GOPnames4uterus #OMGuterus #uterusmovielines, and more.

And also. The Raging Grannies sing out in their typical fashion.

Speaking of eggs ...

Men who defund Planned Parenthood in the US ...

will go without.




Lysistrata and her consoeurs live on in the principled views of the broads/ladies/women of Second City.

And also. Posting this brilliant YouTube gives us an opportunity to use once more the tag "sexually inadequate Republican men". Over-compensating for your pathologies by attacking Planned Parenthood, fellows?

More about the important services PPA provides to women and families in that country.


Bravo!

Not yet done with the Coultrix circus act.

Today's blogpost from CC Ah, I have so missed the Denyseitude. with its splendid link to the self-avowed sexual proclivities of a US rightwing anti-abortion zealot, reminded me of an observation that a friend shared when she reviewed the photos Dr Roy posted after Coulter's stand-up performance at the UWO.

Funny to see those frat boys in those pics with Coulter. It's like she's in a long frame and they're in a wide frame view - except it's the same frame. Oh, what a small mind I have! She's a lévrier afghan and they're pugs.

In the canine world, cross-breeding events are of course quite common. Inter-species, not so much - unlike the sexual practices of certain rightwing males.

Organ-ized Socialism!

What is that, depicted above?

1) A spotted dick.

2) A microscopic view of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) in situ.

3) A greatly magnified view of those bits of Rush Limbaugh that he imagines threatened by the Satanic Scissors of Socialism.


But seriously folks. This latest insanity from a man who couldn't catch a view of his genitalia without a mirror, a flashlight and a block-and-tackle hoist is the convergence of 1) inflammatory lies about health care reform, 2) Birthers' loathsome hallucinations about Obama and 3) the Republicans' deepest fears regarding the loss of their political potency.

Limbaugh: You'll pry my foreskin from my cold, dead hands

If you had to whip up a too-good-to-be-true story for the right-wing pundit class to freak out over, what elements would you include? There would have to be, of course, an element of command-and-control socialist-fascist invasion and regulation of the most private parts of our lives, in the name of some spurious "common good." But that alone is a little pedestrian nowadays, so you'd want to add a nice dollop of male sexual neurosis to really kick it up a notch. Then add just a hint of racial fear and beat to a froth.

From here.

Bonus: It appears that the more rightwing Republicans unintentionally parody themselves, the more material they provide for The Onion to exploit - brilliantly, as always.

James Carter: the last decent US president?

Heroes are in short supply these days, as Lindsay at Canadian Cynic points out, in A Hero For All The People.

Jimmy Carter was vilified for being weak because he chose not to speak in threats, because he asked questions first instead of shooting. For some reason mysterious to me, the insane traitor Ronald Reagan is still held in high regard, venerated as a wise and brave warrior leader while Carter is sneered at by the mugwumps and ambulatory excrement of the right. What is it called when one sells weapons to a sworn national enemy? Oh, that's right... treason. And yet the legacy of Reagan somehow persists despite Iran/Contra and his ugly war crimes in Central America. Reagan was an addled and unprincipled mass murderer while Carter is a thoroughly decent man of peace.

Go read it. Now.

R.E.A.L. Abstinence™ … Now with photos and YouTube.

When Birth Pangs was conceived, gestated and born, we humble bloggers assumed that most of our posts would be parody: witty, silly and fun social satire. Unfortunately, there are current events and news that cannot be addressed with levity. Nonetheless we still manage to poke and prod at issues that are relevant to our concerns; sometimes with the grave attention they merit, but more often than not, with the irreverence they deserve.

Recently Heather Mallick, a talented writer, columnist and observer of social and political trends was savaged by rightwing goons, most of them from the US, because of an amusing piece she wrote about Sarah Palin in her CBC rubrique. Sadly to say, the CBC ombudsman and the publisher hung her out to dry, placating the goons instead of respecting freedom of thought.

Thus, in Heather’s honour, I fluffed up this old bit: R.E.A.L. Abstinence™, with photos and YouTube. And it’s dedicated to the multitudes of sexually inadequate Republican males.

The problem with Abstinence programs currently in vogue in the US and some parts of Canada is that they just don’t go far enough. As every religious zealot proclaims in their own defense, boys will boys, men will be men; it’s simply NOT THEIR FAULT they can’t seem to keep their ‘primitive animal’ urges under control and their willies inside their pants.

This manifests itself in the doctrine of strict Catholicism, Orthodox Judaism and Islam and their clumsy attempts to protect men from temptation and sin (aka women). As evident in thousands of years of self-justification from men accused of rape, sexual assault and incest, they say they just can’t stop themselves. And one of the unfortunate side-effects of unleashed male sexuality is female pregnancy. Not to mention the profligate spilling of man-seed. Won’t somebody please think of all the wasted semen?

Thus the time has come for the male chastity belt. In the past, such a device would have been constructed of metal. The discovery of Kevlar has provided today’s sexually abstinent and chaste folks with the perfect material to produce a design that snugly cradles the area known at “the basket” and strictly prevents undue stimulation or tampering. Of course, there is the required opening that safely allows the evacuation of urine without any mess.
Who controls the key to this device, you may well ask? So far, it would seem reasonable for a priest, rabbi or imam to become the sacred and trusted keyholders of their brethren’s genital muzzles, but it has yet to be determined who will guard the keys to the guardians’ own chastity belts.

Remember. Every sperm is sacred, every male-seed carries the potential of greatness. God, Yahveh or Allah .. each of Them is offended when sperm is not used for the purpose of procreation. Every sperm is sacred.

The R.E.A.L. Abstinence™ chastity belts are available in several sizes. The acronym stands for: Responsible, Empowered And Limp. R.E.A.L. abstinent™ men are not girly men. They are virile men who choose to give up unnecessary erections to protect women from unwanted pregnancies. They choose not to waste their sperm willy nilly. There is something noble and dignified about men who practice R.E.A.L. abstinence™.

Toll-free number: 1-800-YOUNUCH. Operators are ready to take your calls. Please have your measurements and credit cards at hand.

First posted at Birth Pangs.