Someone please ask US Defense Secretary Gates to uncluster the circular firing squad that US Feminists have created in the Philippines and other developing nations.
Advocates of parental rights know the horror stories of american families and fathers destroyed by radical feminism and the Violence Against Women's Act (VAWA). The main weapon in Radical Feminism's attack on fathers and family is VAWA, which is a seamless extension of the violent discrimination of blacks by the Woman's Klu Klux Klan after the Civil War, that profiles all (black) men as aggressive beasts that should be beat down to protect (white) womanhood. Radical Feminism, like Communism, advocates destruction of marriage and the family unit, which competes with thier goal of complete Orwellian style dependence on the communist or feminist power structure for security and sustinence. As US styled Radical Feminism malignantly spreads across the globe, it mutates into a variety of strains that are funded, cultivated, and nurtured by VAWA and other US Feminist sources. Many countries around the world are plagued by rebels, terrorists and propagandists seeking to destabilize thier own nation and economy as a means to effectuate a regime change. Some of these terrorist groups adopt an anti-american posture, conveinently blaming poverty and every other social ill on american or western imperialsim, exploitation or aggression. Terrorist activities that disrupt investment, tourism, and development are the real cause for most of the economic and other social ills that the citizens of those nations suffer. Both terrorists and feminists incite zenophobic or gender hatreds targeting a villified group (foriegners or men). In some countries Radical Feminists are the 'fronts' for communist or other terrorists, and specifically target American Military Men as imperialist exploiters, rapists and defilers of native women. This radical feminist hate speach hysteria has risen to a feverish pitch that is interfering with securitry efforts of the US military and our allies similar to the conditions after the US Civil War that prompted Gen. Butler to write the infamous 28th Standing Order (he later wrote the Civil Rights Act). Enemies of the USA have an entrenched propaganda campaign that equates all US soldiers as rapists and criminals. Any scurrilous rape accusation against a US soldier creates instant fame and endless media coverage for anti-American radical feminist groups. These groups are often linked to US feminist organizations and recieive funding from the hundreds of billions of VAWA dollars recklessly squandered by the US government. While US soliders are scrupulously engaged in assisting our allies in mutual defense cooperation and other security and humanitarian projects with real and tangible benefits to ordingary citizens, US feminists aid the propaganda arms of the combatant terrorists battling the security forces of our allies and US military personel assisting them. The Philippines is a good example of the treasonous activities of domestic enemies funded by VAWA programs due to the ongoing and routine terrorist activities of communist and islamic separtists that share the anti-american agenda of thier radical feminist colleagues, and are united in thier effort to end US - Philippine relations and military cooperation. Philipinne rebels routinely attack, sack, and pillage remote towns and frequently murder, torture, rape or otherwise terrorize any who do not support them. Gang rape of young girls by rebels is a common way to terrorize or punish families percieved to oppose them or support the government. US immigration courts often hear the accounts of rape and persecution by rebels. ie: Silaya v. Mukasey (9th Cir. 5/6/08) concluded a young girl was gang raped by communist rebels because her father was a war veteran that served with General MacArthur in WW2.
Radical feminist groups in the Philippines that routinely fabricate false rape accusations against US soldiers and other anti-american propaganda are often vocal supporters of communist and islamic rebel groups that share the common goal of disparaging america and americans. The US government is in essence paying for the bullets fired at US troops when we fund terrorist supporters with the billions of unaccountable VAWA dollars. It is especailly ironic that VAWA money is used to help fund the propaganda arms of rebel groups that routinely use gang rape of young girls to terrorize supporters of the US or national goverments that the rebels seek to overthrow.
It is time to end this stupidity, and end all VAWA funding, especially that funding that is funneled to developing nations. The US military is engaged in real and tangible cooperative humanitarian and security enhancement efforts with the security forces of the Philippines and other similar nations. It is foolish to the point of treason to allow VAWA dollars to assist combatant enemies of our armed forces or those of our allies.
Sempre Fi
The Supreme Court nominee, Diane Wood, that Obama is entetaining in the news, needs to be properly vetted for her political affiliations. It is concerning that Ms. Wood is included on the short list of some radical feminist websites, and Ms. Woods should be excluded from consideration for the postion of Judge at any level if it turns out that she does advocate Radical Feminist ideology.
The constitution and laws of the United States purportedly support marriage and parental rights, but in reality these precepts are undermined by whores of Radical Feminism that pervades our courts. "Whore" is a word that evolved from the prehistoric Germanic word 'hraz' meaning "one who desires" to the later christainized meaning "adulterer." The feminine of this, 'hrn', became 'hre' in Old English, the ancestor of Modern English word 'whore'. Modern meanings include: 1) A prostitute. 2) A person considered sexually promiscuous. 3) A person considered as having compromised principles for personal gain. Promiscuous was long defined as lewd conduct or any sex outside of marriage, a similar meaning exists today for sex outside of a committed relationship. Whoredom was frequently the basis or grounds for a divorce, in accordance with biblical precepts. A very strict definintion of whore would be any sex outside of marriage, thus all prostitutes are whores, but not all whores prostitutes. An exceedingly strict view of prostitute would only exempt married persons who avail themselves to thier spouse with no conditions or restrictions, as many relationships exist where sex is often playfully bartered as a reward for something, such as a gift, cash, or mowing the lawn.. a practice even within marriage. No fault divorce ignores grounds for divorce, so a woman seeking divorce for the desire to have sex outside of marriage (whoredom) has the same legal standing as an abandoned loyal, faithfu,l wife, or a woman who was abused, neglected or mistreated in a marriage. No fault divorce takes no account of which party violated the marriage contract, nor which party was injured by the breech of marriage contract. Radical feminism proclaims all women are the abused, exploited, coerced victims of all men, and in so doing has reduced all women to the status of trafficked whores and prostitutes, which is essentially the Radical Feminist definition of marriage. Radical Feminism diseminates propaganda to target and villify all men as abusers, with women a privildged victim class with special rights and benefits. This is exactly the same propaganda used by the Woman's Klan to justify slavery and often violent discrimination of blacks, who were portrayed as irresponsible, aggessive, hostile beasts, who basically needed to be beat down to protect 'white womanhood'. The book Whores of the Court: The Fraud of Psychiatric Testimony and the Rape of American Justice, was written by MARGARET HAGEN, PhD. She is an expert in this field, and teaches Psychology, Criminal Justice and Forensic Psychology at Boston University. Her book provides an excellent analysis of venal ’whores’, usually feminists, who work for the courts and provide biased, fabricated, and false testimony. Many family courts consist of layers of lawyers, judges, therapists, counseling, visit centers and other venal whores who's livihood is spewing radical feminist ideology that advocates divorce and single parent motherhood as preferable to marriage, paternity, shared parenting, or fatherhood as it is alleged by our laws. In effect, whoremongering courts may easily reverse the intent and meaning of laws purporting to support marriage and fatherhood, by merely trotting out their favored whores, who provide biased, lewd , vulgar or unsupported testimony in favor of maternal custody over shared parenting. Child Custody, is the main determinant to the distribution of marital assets, the house, and the future income of both parents. Feminist whores consistently advocate sole or majority of custody to women, because this outcome results in financial benefits to the mothers, and funding to the other whores, whoremongers and thier feminist programs. Despite the word whore more often used to describe women, it applies equally to men, no differently than would adultery. In American society, and especailly the media, whoring is so common and accepted, it is now regarded like a recreation or sport, or lifestyle which one should aspire to, and barely has the negative stigma it did years ago. Even adultery barely registers as vice in the TV media driven morals of today. We as a nation, should however take care how we cross that fine line of tolerating vs. advocating whoredom as a cultural value. Whoredom is directly opposite to the social units of marriage, family and paternity upon which civilization is based. Poverty, crime, violence, disease, unemployment, illiteracy, early death are social ills spawned largely in the matriarchal ghettos of most major cities in the world. Father absence is the cause of these social ills, and not fatherhood, as coniving feminists would have you think. Many credible studies conclude violence, and to a lesser degree crime, are behaviors learned as children, from mothers and not fathers. It is the absence of fathers that is most directly linked to poverty and every other measure of social decay that radical feminism malignantly spreads. A whoremongering judicial system that that advocates and encourages divorce, sole custody, and whoredom over marriage and paternity directly conflicts with laws which allege just the opposite.
Eve Ensler, the American playwright, performer, feminist and activist best known for "The Vagina Monologues", wrote the following about Sarah Palin. Drill, Drill, Drill I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar bears. I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodne ss and solidarity of Feminists. But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war. I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity. Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic , the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, "It was a task from God." Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not. She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes. Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who coul d and might very well be the next president of the United States. She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth. Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air. Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, t hat is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be. I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninh abitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression. If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain. Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life? Eve Ensler
Eve Ensler, the American playwright, performer, feminist and
activist best known for "The Vagina Monologues", wrote the following
about Sarah Palin.
Drill, Drill, Drill
I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she
was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the
claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have
a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness
or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I
have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact
that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the
polar bears.
I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life
trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence
against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the
Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people
who made this choice count on the goodne ss and solidarity of
Feminists.
But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical
to Feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving
the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls
options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence
and war.
I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous
choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those
candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in
so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally
disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the
world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have
seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the
presidency with regularity.
Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor.
In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets
better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The
melting of the arctic , the storms that are destroying our cities, the
pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is
fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The
earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves
and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to
be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As
she said herself of the Iraqi war, "It was a task from God."
Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women
who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should
have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or
not.
She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I
imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many
babies that makes.
Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she
has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense
with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an
environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who coul d
and might very well be the next president of the United States. She
would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.
Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting
rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot
hundreds of wolves from the air.
Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private
right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when
war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in
his name, t hat is the end of separation of church and state and the
undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.
I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this
election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the
future not just of the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine
whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever
uninh abitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards
dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence
through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether
we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in
alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It
will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or
whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine
whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of
fear, fundamentalism and aggression.
If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your
power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the
hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of
teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of
destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises
that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis,
doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.
Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the
floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between
nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing
we call life?
Eve Ensler
Folks, I'm an off-the-charts introvert. Otherwise, I'd be blazing a trail through my neighborhood, banging on doors for Obama. This is the closest I can come to outreach. So, if you've wandered onto this page, please, take a moment to visit my fundraising page: http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/backontrack
If you've ever wanted to honor a member of our U.S. armed forces for keeping us safe at home. Please visit http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/backontrack and help me honor one such Marine.
If you want to help Barack fix the V.A. and put an end to the homeless Vet disgrace!
If you're a runner (jogger, walker!).
If your Mom is French (U.S. naturalized, former resistance fighter, former POW).
If your Dad is a Greek-Hungarian U.S. Air Force veteran (thanks, Dad!).
If you're pro-life and know that Barack Obama will help to create a culture of life where the tragedies of abortion, capital punishment and euthanasia of the infirm will one day be unthinkable "choices."
If you're a punk rocker.
If you were born in 1961 and want to turn the page.
If you think that Polar Bears ARE endangered.
Whatever the reason you are here, supporting Barack Obama, or wondering if you should.
Please join us! Dig deep (into your heart, your mind, your pocket)! Visit http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/backontrack and offer your support.
Thank you!
This latest salvo of slings and arrows over Barack's "lipstick" comment just don't ring true to these feminist ears. These people who are so indignant over the little piggie who went to market wearing lipstick are the same jokers who want to outlaw abortion, blocked the ERA, and actively lobby against families unless they look like theirs. They mock the real concerns of American women while doing everything they possibly can to insure that women's equality erodes and our civil rights wither on the vine.
We have to start ignoring Palin. She is like the little kid who keeps kicking you in the shins to gain attention. She needs a big old time-out if you ask me.
AND WE THOUGHT THE GREATEST THREAT FROM WITHIN WAS THE NEO-CON.....FOLKS, MEET THE NEO-CYNICISTS!
THE LOVE POUCH ... a VICE PRESIDENTIAL CHOICE
At first, it seemed a brilliant strategical move. No wonder McCain confidently and out of campaign character, sent Obama what was deemed the Valentine ad on August 29, 2008, by the International Herald Tribune. In the ad, McCain congratulated Obama on his Democratic Convention nomination on the 45th Anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr’s, I Have a Dream speech. It seemed so brilliant and then....
Gawd! In naming Sarah Palin, as his vice presidential running mate, McCain’s choice immediately brought to mind similarities of the mixed and complicated choice of then Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas back in 1991. As you may recall, Thomas was (is) only the second Black nominated for Supreme Court Justice by then President George H.W. Bush to fill the seat of retired Thurgood Marshall. Yet, the appointment of Thomas then (and still now) competed with the need for a black voice and presence on the highest court in the land and that voice belonging to this particular Black conservative who appeared to be a proxy for white conservatives.
The ensuing arguments and revelations of character relative to Thomas, demonstrated an originalist and enigmatic conservative whereby even the NAACP, the Urban League, and the National Organization for Women opposed his appointment. Yet, among some (not many) in the Black community the fact that Thomas was Black was deemed as enough for some Blacks to support him. Many non-supporters in the Black community understood that this man was no Justice Thurgood Marshall!
The choice of Palin as the vice presidential choice for McCain has the same odor, err aura. The Republicans appear to be equal opportunity purveyors of gender legerdemain. In choosing Palin, whose values and avowed right wing policies strike against the core values of many so-called feminist and progressive women, the Republicans have essentially rubbed women’s faces in a choice that is no choice at all.
If the 18 million Hillary supporters (who should be so insulted at this choice so-as-to-spit-blood) want a vagina to win for the sake of a political vagina in office, then McCain has given you just what you stereotypically want. Stereotypically because on all levels this choice of VP, is an insult to feminists and most women.
In so many ways, this choice is so typically mannish and old style-husband-like in it’s transparent attempt to appease those angry women and effectively win their undecided votes. This Republican choice, truly done by the Mad Men in McCain’s retinue is so like ... a stereotypical out-of-touch old husband. Imagine the wife (or 18 million) who expects a thoughtful gift from their spouse (yes, gays count here), significant other, or lover, and then receives something like a brand new shiny vacuum cleaner or a silver handled lint remover.
By choosing Palin, the anti-abortion, Pro-Life crusader, NRA shooter (on more metaphoric levels than one), who supported right-wing extremist Pat Buchanan for president in 2000, who supports McCain’s big oil first energy policy, a Miss Alaska runner-up, mother of five, who also by-the-way eats Moose meat sandwiches (probably higher protein, healthier, and low carb) and who is a tough religious with her evangelical Protestant self, McCain backhands women (Hillonistas’ particularly) with this choice. This is the epitome of the so close yet so far away choice of a candidate. Hopefully, feminists and women swing voters, hell everyone will see this patronization for what it is.
But, I doubt it. These women, the overplayed Hillonistas, the disgruntled 18 million voters that are portrayed as walking the political fence and/or crossing party lines to vote for McCain because their choice of the First Vagina did not get the Democratic nomination leads me to believe that these women could be as shallow, easily led and vindictive as the McCain Mad Men have figured them out to be. I hope that I and the Mad Men are wrong.
Ironically, Palin as VP is the nominating equivalent of the Clarence Thomas contention with ‘Should we vote her in just to have the first woman in the second highest office in the land?’ Unbelievably, as VP, Palin and the feminists will be historically aligned. As well, feminists and unfortunately all women will be historically weighted with the angry woman angst that effectively overshadowed common sense and successfully provided a ‘spoiler effect’ ... Nader style. Is Palin truly an accomplishment for all women? I think not.
Adrienne Zurub
Speaker/Comedian/RN
Author, Notes From the Mothership The Naked Invisibles
http://adriennezurub.typepad.com
When I was in high school, it was customary to elect
A boy for class President
A girl for Vice President
A boy for Treasurer
A girl for Secretary
The nomination of Sarah Palin certainly takes one back to those bad old days!
If the GOP thinks we feminists who supported Hillary Clinton will be won over by Miss Congeniality, they will be sadly disappointed.
Yes, she is far enough to the right to rally the far-right base. But, as we've seen in the last two elections, that base cares more about their pet issues than about the good of the nation as a whole.
Choosing a woman who does not understand science -- a creationist who does not "believe in" climate change -- reinforces the slap in the face. It takes me back to college, when the authorities at the University of Minnesota told my parents to discourage me from studying chemistry, "Why should she work so hard, since girls just come to college for an Mrs. degree."
I would have loved to vote for a woman for President. I am going to love voting for a black person for President.
But I will vote based on the issues, on what Barack Obama can do for our country.
Nicki
After months of slamming Barack Obama for "inexperience," here's who John McCain has chosen to be one heartbeat away from the presidency: a right-wing religious conservative with no foreign policy experience, who until recently was mayor of a town of 9,000 people.
Huh?
Who is Sarah Palin? Here's some basic background:
She was elected Alaska's governor a little over a year and a half ago. Her previous office was mayor of Wasilla, a small town outside Anchorage. She has no foreign policy experience. (1)
Palin is strongly anti-choice, opposing abortion even in the case of rape or incest. (2)
She supported right-wing extremist Pat Buchanan for president in 2000. (3)
Palin thinks creationism should be taught in public schools. (4)
She's doesn't think humans are the cause of climate change. (5)
What’s scares me most about McCain's VP choice is that as I read the headline even I (a lifelong Democrat and ardent Obama supporter) felt a momentary tinge of excitement at the idea of a woman being VP and very likely president in the near future!
The Democrats must be out in full force this weekend defining Governor Palin for the American public before she and the Republicans have much of a chance to do it themselves. Senator Obama, now is not the time for taking the highroad—at least not too high. Let loose your surrogates to tear apart McCain, Palin and the Republican party. I want to know everything about the Alaska scandals and how they can possibly taint the governor. McCain’s polls were already going up because of his negative campaigning. Yes, that negative approach speaks of desperation. And yes, many think his surprise choice of Governor Palin was a desperate move too. But the negativity is working and I think Palin was a brilliant selection. The McCain/Palin ticket is likely to be ahead in every poll by the end of next week after Palin addresses the Republican convention. Any Hillary voters that hadn’t already committed to supporting Obama obviously don’t care about the issues, and Governor Palin makes the Republican ticket extremely appealing to these women. Palin's a perfect choice for McCain—she’s beautiful, a mother of 5, uber-conservative, and extremely well spoken. Governor Palin was so impressive in her speech in Dayton that it looked like she was at the top of the ticket. I just watched an interview she did on CSpan in February, and when she’s talking about the destruction of the environment, she actually sounds pro-environment! This close race just got dangerous! Like every good Democrat, I watched Obama speak at Mile High Stadium last night. Like many Democratic political junkies, I watched nearly every primetime convention speech this week on PBS and all the MSNBC coverage online. And despite four days of magnificent spectacle, all I can think about today is Governor Sarah Palin! If people worried Hillary wouldn’t be a vehement enough supporter of Obama—worry no more! Hillary didn’t inspire 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling so a Republican could waltz through it! The next presidential administration will be groundbreaking. For the sake of our national security, my children’s education, my family’s financial wellbeing, the healthcare of our citizens, and the survival of our planet, I hope we do not have a woman elected to the presidential administration for at least 8 more years.
Starting with the closing event of the first day's major event: Michelle's interview as first lady. On Monday, Michelle Obama gave a prime time speech in which she "interviewed" for first lady. A job that Laura Bush currently holds. There are some similarities. Both mothers have two daughters. It was America's job to see if Michelle could measure up... but no news commentators I watched made that comparison. No one should be surprised that there was no rehashing of Barbara and Jenna's bratty behavior of sticking their tongues out of limosines. Some MSNBC commentators revealed that no "news" was made during her speech. It begs the question then as to what the threshold was that allowed Michelle's comment about being really proud of her country for the first time to be HUGE news. The threshold has been heightened on perhaps the greatest political day of her life ... so that NOTHING she said constitutes as news... but an impromptu stump speech has come to define her for millions of americans simply because THAT was news. The news for those who failed to report it is as follows: Michelle Obama has demonstrated that working professional women who ambitiously pursue career and service goals can succeed. How about that particular crack in the glass ceiling? When it comes to women's issues, the news media as we know it can be counted on not to see their noses on their faces.
In a previous post I mentioned the article I wrote about Hillary. Here it is in it's entirety.
Stop the vagina monologues! Gender was not the reason Sen. Hillary Clinton is not the Democratic presidential nominee. Simply, Clinton was not the best nominee for our country at this time. Still, Hillary Rodham Clinton's gender, the fact that she was a woman running for president, was the best show of unapologetic resolve, ambition, and yes, ruthlessness, demonstrated in a woman going for the highest office in the land in America, ever! I have always been for Obama, but I do recognize the historical force of Hillary.
Clinton built her campaign on entitlement, not feminism. As we all know regarding the black struggle in America, entitlement does not sit well with the majority of Americans, as it smacks of something-for-nothing regardless of truth and history. She is not entitled to win the nomination nor to become the first woman president simply because she slept in the White House and was privy to White House business. She was a good candidate, but she was not the best candidate.
Sen. Clinton made the critical mistake of running a campaign forged from the political manifesto of Bill Clinton. In a very real sense, Hillary, an ephemeral vanguard of feminism, did not define herself fully outside of the boundaries and shadows of being the former first lady and the cheated-upon spouse of Bill. She allowed herself to be merely a familiar reflection of Clintonism. The "new kids" of the younger voting demographic were not impressed. Some women and older feminists who ascribed their feminism and their feminist ideals to Hillary overlooked her flaws in the fervor to make her the first woman president. Is this the new feminism? Yet, when Hillary dared to be herself, she was frightening and not entirely likable! What was with her subliminal (and not so) call for a "hit" on Obama in March and recently with her referencing Bobby Kennedy's June assassination?!
Hillary embraced feminism. Yet, with closer observation, she essentially used women and gender when it suited her presidential aspirations and campaign (like any good politician). Would a real feminist have voted for the Iraq war? While intellectually she is for the empowerment of women and women's rights, her campaign was not feminist or strictly for feminism, nor should it be.
Without a doubt, President Bill Clinton, in his day, was a brilliant political strategist. He is clever, polished and possesses the political currency of being likable. In his day, his skills were admirable and his Teflon style quite necessary in dealing with vengeful Republicans. Yet, what was slick in the '90s appears greasy in this new atmosphere and age of political campaigning. Especially with the new generation of voters. Especially as Sen. Clinton executed some of the same maneuvers.
Hillary Clinton, with the aura of entitlement all about her, dissed us, the public, and some of her loyal women voters. You see, Sen. Clinton assumed that the possession of a vagina was nine-tenths of this presidency.
Perhaps she would have been correct, had not Barack Obama, in all his righteousness, freshness and inspiring hopefulness, not come along. The brightness of Obama's aura (ironically, a black man) illuminated brightly the flaws and failings of the Clinton political machine. The Clintons (and McCain) looked old, passe and disgruntled.
Howard Sackler, who wrote the play The Great White Hope, stated the following about his play which, if we use poetic license and substitute the term "woman" and the overarching theme of sexism as opposed to racism, becomes Sen. Clinton's story: "What interested me was not the topicality but the combination of circumstances, the destiny of man pitted against society. It's a metaphor of struggle between man and the outside world."
Talk about not getting the signals correct between generations. On May 20, 2008, Geraldine Ferraro was a guest on The Today Show, with Meredith Viera attempting to conduct an interview yet giving surrogate Ferraro a platform to spew Clinton's campaign rhetoric. The other guest, Rachel Maddow (who barely got to speak), represented the type of young voter who sides with Obama. The schism between the Clinton demographic and Obama's could not have been made clearer (especially since the interview became a YouTube moment). Ferraro spoke of Obama's alleged disrespect for Hillary Clinton with his supposed dismissive "brush of the shoulders" gesture. Maddow stated she did not see the gesture as dismissive but a type of cool hip-hop mannerism. Ferraro pressed on with some other alleged sexist slight at which point Maddow looked at Ferraro as if she were from another planet.
Clinton and Ferraro fought with old methods and old political ammunition. The support that Clinton marshaled did not allow that perhaps she is not the best person for the job. They just want her to get the job because she is a woman! That type of myopic thinking and voting is not fair to all women or to our country. These women state, "It's our time!" As a woman, I beg to differ. Clearly, these times are fertile for a woman to be president. But not this woman.
Anais Nin once wrote, "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." For this campaign, Hillary needed to have the courage to expose herself and not conceal who and what she is behind the shroud of her husband. Not to diminish her accomplishments because it takes courage to run for president. Yet, it takes less courage when you may think your ascendancy is guaranteed.
When you really examine it, Hillary at times used gender as a means to an end. She used the power of pussy (much as her husband did) to amass her constituency. She pushed some deceit, a chameleon-like attitude, and the lame attempt to be what we and the country need her to be at any given moment. That is not the quality of leadership. It is unfortunate that some women who so desperately (and righteously) want to see sexism, gender-pay disparities and other social slights addressed, have laid their collective burdens and hopes upon the shoulders of Hillary. It is unfortunate that the surrogate Geraldine Ferraro with her pitbull divisive politics represented exactly what is wrong with the Clinton campaign, a methodology that is passe.
Adrienne ZurubCleveland Heights
adriennezurub.typepad.com
Ummmm..Mr McCain?…are ya sitting down? Here’s a few of your own words that lead all of us to distrust you overwhelmingly, every day! You’re an embarrassment to yourself, McSame! This is the age of the “Internet(s)” and “the” Youtube using Bushian malaprops. We’ve got you on record, McFlip/Flop! Facts are just silly things that get in your way…ehhh, McSame?
Many, many, many thanks to one of my true media heroes and ever-present mentor..Keith Olbermann!
A Powered Woman: Feminist Platform for Obama
This Feminist Platform arises out of months of in-depth conversations that took place on the listserve of Feminists for Obama. Although some subscribers to the list tried to eliminate "personal" messages as well as discussion they deemed "off-topic," a core group of writers emerged who felt that the feminist saying "the personal is the political" applied wherever people are, even on a list of supporters of Barack Obama. So, we kept talking. What emerged from our wide-ranging personal sharing is our collective desire to see changes made in the areas of education, sex education, abortion, parenting, child abuse, community process, Social Security, rape prevention, and domestic violence. This is not our ultimate or final list, but only where we begin. Since we intend to keep talking, and since the format we've chosen for our Feminist Platform is GoogleDocs, we will continue to develop our thoughts, statements, resolutions, etc.
Maya Soetoro-Ng, Barack's younger half-sister, was in Florida last week talking to women voters about Barack. Maya attended a “Women For Obama” reception at a downtown restaurant in Tampa last Thursday night. She spoke about what is was like growing up with Barack, how much he is a family man and revealed his softer side.Here's what some of the local press had to say about Maya and the event...
From the Tampa Tribune:
Barack Obama is a dedicated feminist who "lives surrounded by women," his half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, told a mostly female crowd at a Women For Obama event in downtown Tampa on Thursday. Soetoro-Ng told the crowd that Obama helped rear her and now is rearing two daughters. "Those girls are what make him a feminist," she said. ..."I want to focus a little bit on women because that's one of the reasons I'm here is to remind women that he is their advocate," she told the crowd. "I want to tell you about some of the strong women in our lives. "I really want you to be able to get to know the man." She did that largely by telling family stories. Her older brother "really was the man in our lives" after their parents divorced, when the two were growing up in Hawaii and Indonesia, she said. She said he taught her to ride a bicycle, made her practice harder math problems and start an exercise program, took her on college visits and even gave her her first women's health book - "Our Bodies, Ourselves," a 1973 guide that came out of the women's movement and focused on female sexuality, health and hygiene. When she was older, she said, he scrutinized her dates. "He definitely gave them a hard time. He definitely counseled me on which to discard and which to keep." She said Obama approved of the man she married. "I don't think I could have otherwise." Soetoro-Ng is the daughter of Obama's mother and her second husband, an Indonesian, and the only other child of their mother. Obama has other half-siblings from his father, a Kenyan who went back to Africa after leaving Obama and his mother. When Obama grew older, she said, he went to Africa to reacquaint himself with his father, "a really important journey for him." She told the crowd he "dared to love his father despite his father's imperfections," and wrote about it in his memoir, "Dreams From My Father."
From the St. Petersburg Times:
Maya Soetoro-Ng leaves no doubt she's a proud kid sister. ...She says he's a feminist, who bought her the first women's health/sex ed book she ever read, Our Bodies, Ourselves. And he helped her "figure out which boys to discard." Joined by state Sen. Arthenia Joyner and former state Democratic Party executive director Ana Cruz, both Clinton-turned-Obama supporters, Soetoro-Ng talked to the crowd as if it were composed of her closest girlfriends. "I'm giving up all his secrets, because I just have to," said Soetoro-Ng, 37, launching into a story that offered a rare glimpse of Obama's interaction with his daughters. She explained how the Obama family spent the Fourth of July, Obama's daughter Malia's 10th birthday, at a Montana motel. Malia teased him about spending her birthday on the campaign trail. And at one point, Obama started to tear up, because he noticed how his daughter had sprouted up, tall and lean. "He's not a soft man, but they touch him so," said Soetoro-Ng, who is married and has a 4-year-old daughter. ...She talked about how she struggled with the absence of her own father and learned from watching Obama struggle with a similar absence from his. She said it was important for Obama to visit his father in Kenya and "to dare to love his father in spite of his father's imperfections." "He came back. Wrote a book. Moved on. No lingering bitterness," Soetoro-Ng said with a hint of jealousy in her deep, rich voice. "He doesn't have issues, my brother." He taught her how to ride a bike. He encouraged her to exercise. He urged her to work on math problems more appropriate for grades above her. He took her to neighborhoods "I never would have ever gone to otherwise." He helped her get her first job, teaching swimming. "He helped me to be a better version of myself and to push myself and he really did such a good job of combining high expectations with compassion and support, and I feel like that's what he's doing for the country," she said. Soetoro-Ng teaches world culture and U.S. history at La Pietra, a high school for girls in Honolulu. She also teaches at the University of Hawaii's College of Education. This is her first visit to Florida. She said its mugginess reminded her of Hawaii. In an interview before the speech, Soetoro-Ng acknowledged that she was trying to help her brother resolve any perceptions that he has a problem with women. "I want to invite people who formerly supported Hillary Clinton into the dialogue and reassure them of the fact that Barack is going to be a very strong advocate for women in the years to come," she said. "It's a matter of getting to know him and his policies better. In this case, familiarity will breed love."
