To Save Planned Parenthood

Have a moment with the information above. Imagine how many Medicaid patients in rural areas would immediately lose health care and cancer screenings if federal funding for Planned Parenthood were banned.

This issue is about women's health. Regardless of how many distractions we are offered or attempts are made to misdirect our focus, the necessity of Planned Parenthood in our country is profound. The millions of women who would completely lose their access to family planning and cancer screenings can not become irrelevant by those who mean to create controversies for votes. We must demand that women are more important than that.

Because the issue of abortion is a wedge issue and some of our politicians are presently trying to compel their base to rally support so they can get a spot in next weeks Republican debates, Rand Paul has determined to have a Senate hearing Monday to eliminate all funds to Planned Parenthood. They have allowed for hysteria to distract themselves and their constituents from the essential work that this group is doing. As none of the federal funds go toward the issue they are debating, it is insulting to think they would be holding a hearing to get rid of monies which are directly used to care for women and families.

My hope is for every thoughtful human being who reads this to take a quiet moments reflection on what our society is telling us when our legislators, those we hire to represent us and our needs, spend so much of their time trying to create laws to remove our rights and offer so much of their energy trying to take down a single organization whose sole mission is to care for the needs of American women. This all comes down to one issue. That issue is abortion. Abortion has been legal for 40+ years now. The majority of Americans support freedom of choice. Even many Republicans support that right.


This is the list of Senators who are a member of the Republicans for Choice, a group who believe that the GOP principles should embrace freedom of choice. Please reach out to them if they represent you and remind them what it means to be representing your healthcare needs.

Susan Collins of Maine: @SenatorCollins
Mark Kirk of Illinois: @SenatorKirk
Lisa Murkowski of Alaska: @LisaMurkowski




The Man who is proposing this bill has this on his fundraising page. Make sure that he and the companies united to support women in this country understand that Americans think that the nations objectives should embrace the rights of women, as well.

Please contact these companies today and thank them for making the health of women a priority while compeling them to contact the Senate and insist our government do the same.  Thank you.

If you contact the companies through Twitter make sure to use the hashtags #SavePlannedParenthood #WarOnWomen and #NOW as they trending and will make more people aware of the companies who support women's healthcare.

Adobe: @Adobe @AdobeCare
American Cancer Society: @ASCAN @Cancer
American Express: @AmericanExpress
AT&T:  @ATT
Avon:  @AvonFoundation
Bank of America: @BofACommunity @BankofAmerica
Bath & BodyWorks: @bathandbodyworks
Ben & Jerrys: @BenandJerrys
Clorox: @Clorox
Coca-Cola: @CocaCola
Converse: @Converse
Deutsche Bank: @DBAmericas
Dockers: @Dockers
Energizer: @Energizer @EnergizerBunny
Expedia: @Expedia @ExpediaMedia
Exxon Mobil: @KenPCohen @ExxonMobil
Fannie Mae: @FannieMae
Ford: @FordFoundation @Ford
Groupon: @Groupon @GrpnGrassroots
Intuit: @Intuit @TurboTax
Johnson & Johnson: @JNJCares @JNJGlobalHealth
LaSenza: @LaSenza
Levi Strauss: @LeviStraussCo @LeviStraussFdn
Liberty Mutual: @LibertyMututal
Macy's: @Macys @MacyFoundation
March of Dimes: @MarchofDimes
Microsoft: @MSFoundation @Microsoft
Morgan Stanley: @MorganStanley
Nike: @NikeFoundation @Nike
Oracle: @Oracle
PepsiCo: @PepsiCo
Pfizer: @Pfizer
Progressive: @Progressive
Starbucks: @Starbucks
Susan G Komen: @SusanGKomen
Tostitos: @Tostitos
Unilever: @Unilever
United Way: @UnitedWay @LiveUnited
Verizon: @Verizongiving @Verizon
Wells Fargo: @WellsFargo

Dear Media: Rape Is A Thing

Fox has a right-wing cable channel with the word 'news' in its title and demands it has no political bias. This is laughable to every single person in the country who knows the definition of the word 'bias' (which obviously excludes their audience). The left has MSNBC. They never try to dismiss allegations that their commentary comes from the left, however they maintain credibility because they never contend to be something other than they are or make stories out of thin air to create and perpetuate hate or fear in their audience. For some reason, MSNBC feels the need to alienate their audience and offer us a regressive perspective for their morning show, Morning Joe. Its host, Joe Scarborough, is a former Congressman from Florida and his co-host, Mika Brzezinski, is supposed to offer us a perspective from the left.

Sadly, as with my previous condemnations of ABC, MSNBC has gone out of its way to offer American women an unhealthy representation of strong women. Brzezinski is adamant about being a leader for women. She recently wrote a book called "Know Your Value" and started a nationwide tour to teach American women just how to rise and be strong. Meanwhile, every morning she shows us a woman with no backbone who seems quite content with her place as the nodding head next to its superstar from the Regressive Party. She calls herself a feminist while giggling to the boys and literally defining women as the subordinate creatures we were meant to be in the 50s where the men on the show ignore her cutesy little remarks when she tries to speak about politics as if its adorable that she thinks she knows what is going on.

In July, in a long series of unsettling opportunities Brzezinski has taken to rally with the host and any guests about myriad unfounded (later proven to be untrue) rumors about Secretary Clinton, she gave a disgusted and dismissive start to a discussion about the recently released rape allegations against Donald Trump by the Daily Beast. She didn't want to hear about it.

The question of the rape, itself, was not relevant for discussion on Morning Joe. The story the crew offered us was about the reply from Trump's attorney where he literally said that "by the very definition, you can't rape your spouse." (I suppose in their dark world, when a man is married he can pretty much do whatever he wants to his wife and she has no say in it). He then threatened the author of the piece (a woman) in a manner so crude that no feminist or human being should consider lightly, and ended in a sentence which actually sounded like a threat of rape to her. The whole thing was ridiculous to Brzezinski. She passionately feigned disgust when the co-author and editor, Tim Mak of the Daily Beast, came on and then she rolled her eyes while shaking her head. Scarborough even pointed out that he would protect the editor from Mika, because she was so pissed about the fact that rape allegations would be offered about Trump.

Mak pointed out that the reply from Trumps attorney said that spousal rape isn't illegal and Brzezinski literally dismissed him and cut him off saying,"Great. Thank you." Hey Mika, kindly never tell your audience that you want women to know their value while you refuse to hear the story and refuse to take the opportunity to remind your audience that in fact, spousal rape is a thing. And that it is not only deplorable, but illegal. That discussion concluded with Scarborough explaining to America that the reason many good people don't run for political positions is because they are afraid of terrible lies like these coming out about them.

The Morning Joe team never even discussed the actual allegations of the story and why they are incredibly important for Americans to hear. Thankfully, MSNBC was good enough to offer its audience an interview with the author of the piece, Brandy Zadrozny, the night before where she explained the relevance of the story on The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell. O'Donnell was uncharacteristically offensive, however, because he was looking for reasons to remind his audience that the victim in the case, Ivana Trump, still has a friendship with Donald Trump all of these years later. He reminded us that when many marriages end the spouses can still get along for the sake of the children. Thanks for the reminder, Lawrence. That happens with a lot of survivors who are just glad to get out of the cross hairs of bullies. Trump has proudly offered us proof that he is a bully. He tells us that he goes out of his way to be nice to people who are nice to him. Exactly. Bullies often do that. They also, as Trump does, remind us about what happens when they are crossed. Trump makes sure we know that. He had a television show where the objective was for him to be a bully. No woman who left a man like that, with the status and power that he has, would dare speak out about him.

If Trump has shown us anything in the last several months it is that he will absolutely not abide any betrayal (either real or imagined) and if anyone spends a moment of their time thinking he wouldn't do whatever he could to bury this story, they are living in a world completely devoid of reality. Only the article, which no one seems interested in discussing, and O'Donnells show in July offered us insight into what that bully is capable of.

The only time that Ivana Trump testified under oath about the event she called it rape. The entire scene was violent. He yanked fistfuls of hair from her head. The testimony from her friends that O'Donnell couldn't even say on the air was "He tore off her clothes and unzipped his pants. 'Then he jams his penis inside her for the first time in more than sixteen months.'" When she later recanted (through Trumps attorney) this was the statement:

“During a deposition given by me in connection with my matrimonial case, I stated that my husband had raped me,” the Ivana Trump statement said. “[O]n one occasion during 1989, Mr. Trump and I had marital relations in which he behaved very differently toward me than he had during our marriage. As a woman, I felt violated, as the love and tenderness, which he normally exhibited towards me, was absent. I referred to this as a ‘rape,’ but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense.”

As with terrorism when the actor is neither foreign nor a Muslim, the media is really desperate to find new words to define rape. Both the word rape in the initial testimony and the account above is offensive and demands further scrutiny. If no one can admit that this updated account sounds like an attempt to minimize rape, they have no business calling themselves a journalist whose sole responsibility is to inform their audience, regardless of who is going to get pissed after you do. Finally, the divorce was granted on the grounds of Donald Trump's "cruel and inhuman treatment' of Ivana. That should trigger someone into thinking deeply about both his respect for women and the possibility of his being their President.

After the divorce, when she was finally away from him and was under a gag order, she changed her story to say that it was an emotional rape. And no one wants to discuss the fact that every single thing she said the week that the story broke in July to defend Trump had to actually be approved by him because of the gag order. What moron believes he, or the attorney above who would be the one to review it, would allow a response that would put the bully in a negative light?

Is it any wonder that the women's movement has been so unsuccessful? Is it remotely curious that in 2015 we still have not been able to get the ERA passed?

We allow for those in our media culture to negate accusations of 40+ women who give undeniably similar stories about Bill Cosby raping them. We allow them to do so even though we have evidence of his having admitted under oath to drugging them beforehand. But we accept a noted celebrity, Whoopi Goldberg, condemning us for believing these women. We have a self-proclaimed feminist on MSNBC refusing to hear an accusation of rape in a desperate attempt to protect the reputation of the man accused, who we all know to be a bully.

Again, I remind my reader, (for whites) there are two laws in our country where it is absolutely justifiable, and maybe even expected, to first be skeptical or dismiss allegations and, in turn, accept that the victim is lying. Those two laws are, of course, rape and domestic violence. If our media can't be held accountable for offering us perspectives in the dismissal of women and their obvious subjugation in the most extreme cases, what type of society are we accepting?

This is where we are in our women's movement: We have a very serious chance of getting our first female President. All news outlets, including the one which is supposed to lean left, offer supposition for every rumor that comes up (they've been giving us rumors for over 20 years now, has no one yet determined they should vet their sources before reporting?), but when serious allegations come out about the rage and danger of a man who is running for the same office, those allegations are dismissed with obvious and extreme prejudice. And the discussion about the dangers of spousal rape are minimized in order to literally promote the character of a bully.

In short, I guess we are fucked. That's where we are. And the media refuses to see their complicity in that fact.

Regressive Women's Health

Right. Go to Rand Paul's website and you will promptly be invited to donate to his campaign. This is the message he chose to send to Americans who want him to lead us all. It never surprises me when they flaunt their arrogance and their ignorance. It pisses me off, though. I, too, believe in the rights of men. However, I'm partial to this new fangled way of thinking where everyone should have an opportunity to the same rights.

I'm sure many in the Regressive Party will condemn me for playing semantics. True, it is beneath me. But that is the only weapon they seem to have. So I will gladly point out the fact that any noun at all could have filled that space. He could've used "American's," "Humans," "Everyone's," but he didn't.

Rand Paul uses only semantics here to explain his new position against choice. For any who are not sure what he is talking about, don't feel bad, he isn't either. You see, no woman will walk into a hospital the day before she is due to give birth and get an abortion. The Regressive Party has been using this nonsense to promote the miseducation of people who can't (won't) think for themselves. Again, critical thinking is a gift some of us are not born with. This talking point is meant to diminish a woman's right to choose an abortion after 20 weeks. They never allow the conversation to go beyond rhetoric, of course, because 20 weeks is about the time that technology can detect birth defects. And their argument also completely belies the fact that when a doctor determines a late-term abortion is necessary, it is to spare the woman's life or health. As much as we all enjoy our second class citizen status, maybe we could let up just a bit when it is actually talking about life and death?

Because their use of semantics is so pervasive in all of their talking points, it makes it too hard to point them out every day so I usually give them a pass. Today, however, Paul gets none. He is, at present, passionately compelling those in the Senate to vote for a bill he proposed to cut all funding for Planned Parenthood next month.

The videos which have been leaked lately are meant to be fantastical. They are only shocking to people who lack the capacity for reason and who are anti-choice. Those are the people who were already going to vote for Rand Paul. This will end up being another waste of his rhetoric and time in the Senate because it will not garner a single new vote. He may, however, be able to lose some. Every woman on the right who believes in choice will be given a chance to hear about these attempts every time we take the time to explain them. There are many on the right who believe in choice. The Regressives call them "RINOs" (Republican in Name Only) and don't really even consider them a part of their party.

Unfortunately, many of the RINOs don't pay enough attention to realize what has become of their party. They are traditional Republicans who have always walked into the voting booth, checked the Rs and gone home. They feel content having done their civic duty and will show up again in 4 years to do the same. Because they don't pay much attention, however, they don't realize that their party has been hijacked by the Regressives and they don't realize that the ideals which were once held as sincerely radical in their party are now those which define its platform.

If these RINOs only hear bits and pieces of what is going on in the country from people at work or at family functions, they might be horrified to hear the rumors about Planned Parenthood. Its pretty easy to set them straight and let them know that the tapes were profoundly altered and then ask them to think about what the actual takeaway from the hysteria is without any outside influence. Then remind these RINOs that Planned Parenthood is an essential need for many women throughout the nation who don't have access to family planning and gynecological care in rural areas. Remind them of the many resources they offer to millions of Americans. Finally, remind them that the Senate is voting to cut all of their federal funding because they oppose abortion. Don't forget to add in this discussion that #1 abortion is legal and #2 Planned Parenthood receives no federal funding for abortions #3 tissue donation should be a revolutionary way to create live-saving medical advancements, not create controversy. The RINOs are the ones on the right who aren't sheep. Thoughtful discourse is possible with them.

We have time to make sure they are aware. Each of us. One at a time. And we also have time to call our Senators and tell them what we plan to do. And tell them we will be making sure to keep track of how they vote on Planned Parenthood next month.

Don't be confused by their wordplay. There really is a genuine War on Women presently being waged by the Regressives. And it really is time that we fight back.

Republican Holocaust

Okay. I have fucking had it. I am not kidding. There are few things that can get me as pissed as I am right now. My body is covered in hives. I have had it with the GOP having absolutely zero respect for Americans, for history and certainly lacking all decorum when designing their dog whistles.

It doesn't even phase me any longer when they make references to the Bible because it is their own professed text and mangling the words of it should make them be held accountable by someone, especially if there really will be a St. Peter waiting for them when we are finally rid of their bullshit. The Holocaust is something decidedly more grotesque.

This past weekend, Mike Huckabee said that President Obama was trying to create a new Holocaust for the Jews. His exact words were, "take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven." Not surprisinging, that pissed some people off. And, not surprisingly, he decided that meant he needed to double down.

Now listen, you bitter, hateful old sonofabitch. We all realize you need attention because Trump has taken your actual talking points to offer America as his own and you are bent out of shape because you didn't realize they would do so well in the mainstream or you would've let up on your coded language a long time ago. But as a human being, as a citizen of this Earth, there are some things that absolutely no respectable politician would draw a comparison to in attempts to denounce their opposition. And offering foresight of a pending Holocaust because of the deal struck with Iran is way over the line. No one uses that phrase, "Marching to the ovens." Wanna know why? Its not a thing. It is a thing that existed one time in history and it is such a profound thing that no rational thinking person would ever draw a comparison to it. Ever.

When you design rhetoric meaning to be analogous to the most profoundly painful and unthinkable memories of recent history, you lessen its memory and its impact on the greater human conscience. There is nothing like the Holocaust. We want to all make sure that we never have anything like the Holocaust again. When you take repeated opportunities to diminish the affects people have when they are reminded of it, you bring us one inch closer to a place where atrocities are acceptable again.

Huckabee isn't the only right wing extremist to be using Holocaust references to entice their small minded base. I had actually set this item aside a couple of weeks ago because it made me so angry that I didn't think I could construct sentences properly.

Begin by reading this famous quote by Martin Neimoller defining the theme of complacency during the Holocaust:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

In June, a group of 'Christian' leaders met in San Diego for a conference to plot ways to further destroy our futures. Chuck Stetson, a noted speaker offered this to his audience:

First they came for the adoption ministry, but I did not speak out, because I did not do adoptions.

Then they came for the wedding photographer, but I did not speak out, because I did not do photographic weddings. 

Then they came for the baker, and I did not speak out because I was not a baker. Then they came for the florist, but I said nothing, because I was not a florist.

Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.

Please pause here and reflect on the initial quotation.

Now, after you have cooled off, take a moment to reflect on which people 'they' came for in the 30s. The Socialists? The Trade Unions? And then, of course, the religious group they didn't like? Carry that with you for the next time you are called a Nazi.

It is beyond comprehension how we, as an American society, offer a voice to these mongrels. Yes, we have freedom of speech and we also have freedom of religion. However, that should not mean that we don't demand better of our media to inform us of the antics of those who mean to lead us and it does not mean that we should allow them a pass to condemn the rest of us to endure them because of their rights.

I know that it is supposed to be above a Progressive to make nasty remarks about the way someone looks. I am immature in many ways, though, and it is not one of the things I am working on presently. With that being said, this is a picture of Chuck Stetson. Can you totally see him with horns popping out of his head and long pointy teeth?

I know that they make blanket statements all of the time in calling others Nazi's, so much so that we literally have to consider Godwin's Law whenever we want to have an intelligent comparison (wink) of their beginnings and propaganda with those of the Tea Party. The base (perfect word, huh?) that they pander to don't understand history so we can't expect them to be offended, but that doesn't mean that society should accept it. To be honest, I cannot even decide which of the declarations above are worse. I'll let you decide.



***I am actually aware that this will not have been one of my greatest attempts at writing because when I get angry it is more evident that I am pissed than anything else. My President kind of sums it up for me, though.***

Warning: Be Prepared for The Next Swift Boat

When I started becoming fascinated with the Tea Party spin earlier this year I started researching where their nonsense was coming from and how it was disseminated so quickly and effortlessly throughout their network. It was actually pretty easy to figure out once I found this jackass. His name is Jerome Corsi. He was the asshole that brought us Secretary Kerry's swiftboat conspiracy lies. He is also the one that created the story of President Obama being a Muslim. And that he is secretly married to his gay lover with Michelle Obama serving as his beard. 

I know that you, my readers, are intelligent people and you laugh when you hear this shit. I do, too. For a moment. I then realize that the problem with America is that we are a country which thrives on tabloid information and loves to talk shit about people. We have lost the capacity, as a collective, to ignore the bullshit and focus on things that are important. That is part of the success of the Tea Party and groups like them. They count on us to ignore it. And they count on morons to flock to this type of information because they are high on the excitement of it. 

Our ignoring it has failed us in the past. I honestly think, because of it, we have failed the President. The right is presently, sincerely, enjoying a rift within the Democratic Party because of the Bernie V Hillary fight we have raging among ourselves. I think the most disturbing part is the fact that some of the rumors going back and forth have actually been handed to us by the right. Regardless of which candidate you are most excited to support, please realize that if the rift continues you have not only furthered the cause of people who start rumors to ruin careers, but you will literally have handed them wins for the candidates they will be promoting next year; both in the White House and Congress. And ask yourself what our Supreme Court and our futures will look like then. Honestly. Have a quiet moments reflection on this.

I am asking ALL Democrats and Socialists and Progressives and Liberals to get behind shutting down this rumor whenever you hear it. Regardless of how you feel about any of the candidates on the left, it is the agenda of the left that will suffer, the entire agenda, if we allow them to give us more opportunities for division.

Corsi started spreading rumors about Secretary Clinton last week. The video and its implications are so vile as to say she was behind the Benghazi attacks, as was the President.

We need to get ahead of it this time.  Regardless of how incredibly ridiculous it was, remember that the rumors he started about President Obama are still discussed today. We need to laugh at the ridiculousness of this publicly and inform those around us before it makes its way into the backs of the minds of people who retain snippets of information, keep them in their mental 'negative' file and move on in life. Let them keep it in their 'negative GOP' file instead.

Their spin needs to be shut down. Period. As often as we can get in front of it we must. Please let us all work together to condemn the negative lies whenever they come out and make sure the Regressive Party understands that we see them coming and are not taking their shit.