Keep Your Boehner Out Of My Uterus

I wanted to do a bit of a longer follow up from my last post. Of course I have been thinking about the extended topic of Planned Parenthood and basic women's rights lately, mostly because of how prominent it is RIGHT NOW in this country. There is this huge debate going on surrounding this issue and I honestly don't understand why. What it mostly boils down to in my eyes is that if you don't support funding for Planned Parenthood, you are not in favor of women's rights (and keep in mind that only 3% of their organization goes towards abortions which are already NOT funded by the Government under Title X, so cutting funding for the entire thing is 100% denying health rights to women on many different levels). It's pretty astounding to me to think of how disrespectful this actually is. And it pains me to think of how far women are being set back in time by this.

I really enjoy this picture, of course because of the satire involved but mostly because it's pretty accurate. Basically someone else is trying to control what we do with our bodies - and mind you, it's someone who doesn't even HAVE a uterus. So I hope you enjoy this on a satirical level while also realizing the truth behind what the picture is actually portraying.

I had the pleasure of participating in a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood last night simply by going out to eat at a restaurant that supports the organization and was gladly donating 10% of each person's bill to the cause when they presented a ticket saying they were there to participate. I asked our waiter if he had been seeing a lot of tickets that night and he said every single table he had been given that night was participating. That kind of thing really gives me hope. Just to know that there are other people out there fighting for the cause is really something to be proud of. I sometimes feel very alone on this issue because I focus on how many people out there are on the opposite side, but I'm starting to think (last night, anyways) and hope that there are more people on the side of respect and decency than I think. And that is an empowering thought. I'll continue to fight for this for the rest of my life.

Democratic Military Wives

I just found this facebook page (Democratic Military Wives) and I really enjoy their profile picture. Mostly because of the pun, but also because I am just so glad that there's at least SOME women sticking up for our rights and not trying to set us back 70 years. Things like this give me some kind of hope. Support.

Planned Parenthood continued.

This is just a short follow up to my last post about planned parenthood funding. I think everyone needs to see this and understand exactly what it is they want to cut ALL funding for.

[via: The Daily What]

Bumper Stickers

One thing I love about living in this town is how outspokenly liberal some people are. It's really inspiring for someone like me who WANTS to be outspoken about it but is often times concerned with how it will be received (and rightfully so, after the kinds of things that have been said to me during countless political arguments and debates). But in this town it's not uncommon to see some pretty awesome liberal things that make me smile and give me hope for this generation. For example: Bumper Stickers. I have never experienced such bold forms of political stance in any of the other parts of the country I've lived in. I must say, it's awesome. Here's some of my favorites I've seen around town.

International Women's Day

Today marks the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day!

(Which you probably already know if you use Google.)

Celebrate all the wonderful women in your life today.
Moms, sisters, friends, women who inspire you, role models, teachers...
All the important women in your life.

And as always, never stop fighting for gender equality and women's rights!

Glorifying Charlie Sheen

This is going to be a rant of sorts.

I don't understand what all the hype over Charlie Sheen is about. It's interesting to me that instead of condemning him for his recent (and also not so recent) drug abuse problem and domestic violence scandals, everyone thinks he's just hilarious. And maybe it was funny for a couple days, tweeting about #tigersblood and #winning because every word that came out of his mouth was utterly ridiculous, but I've been thinking more and more about how incredibly sad it is that society is completely glorifying his actions and encouraging him to continue.

When other celebrities get involved in these types of scandals, they are subjected to the worst form of media and social scrutiny and are, more often than not, forced to get help and retreat into hiding until it passes. Think Lindsay Lohan and Chris Brown. Lindsay has been in and out of jail and rehab for her drug abuse problem, and no one lets her get away with saying bullshit like "I cured my disease with my brain." When he's had MULTIPLE instances of violence against women (including prostitutes, his ex-fiance, and his own wife) he's not sent to jail or been scrutinized by the media in the same way Chris Brown was. It's sad, but I feel like people have become so used to his scandals that people are overlooking it now.

For god's sake, he has small children who look up to him and this is the example being set? That their dad can do drugs and sleep with prostitutes and hit women and that it's ok because no one is stopping him?

It's really not ok. To be honest, it's really disappointing to me that he joins twitter and gains over a million followers in less than 24 hours (setting a record, I might add), enabling him to continue. Is this because people are interested in seeing what the next crazy thing that will come out of his mouth is, or is it because people are encouraging him to continue his actions because it's entertaining? I wont lie, I started following him because I thought it would be entertaining, but after about a week of this nonsense, I'm just becoming more and more sad at the situation. It's not funny and he seriously needs help. People need to stop acting like his craziness is a joke, because he has some serious problems and, not to be dramatic, but he's probably going to die if he continues down this road.

Society needs to stop enabling him and get him some ACTUAL help before he takes the turn that so many other celebrities before him have.

Rush Limbaugh's latest blast of ignorance.

If you haven't heard about this audio segment from Rush Limbaugh's radio show, you should really give it a listen. He is basically saying that Michelle Obama, in all her incredible efforts to fight childhood obesity, is a hypocrite because she was seen out with her daughters eating ribs. Not only does he focus on this one incident (which, by the way it is absolutely acceptable to "cheat" every now and then - don't try to tell me YOU haven't done it mister), but he goes on to say some really ignorant and disrespectful things about her.



He says:

"The problem is -- and dare I say this -- it doesn't look like Michelle Obama follows her own nutritionary, dietary advice. And then we hear that she's out eating ribs at 1,500 calories a serving with 141 grams of fat per serving, yeah it does -- what do you mean, what do I mean?

What is it - no, I'm trying to say that our First Lady does not project the image of women that you might see on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, or of a woman Alex Rodriguez might date every six months or what have you. I mean, women are under constant pressure to look lithe, and Michelle My Belle is out there saying if you eat the roots and tree bark and the berries and all this cardboard stuff you will live longer, be healthier and you won't be obese. Okay, fine, show us."

I take issue with this because Michelle Obama is absolutely NOT advocating for women to eat healthy so they can look like they should be on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He fails miserably to recognize the point of her mission. She is advocating for health, because we are a completely unhealthy country. Yes, she went out and had a fat meal of ribs with her daughters, but you can't honestly look me in they eye and tell me you have never cheated your health for even a second. If she was seen out having burgers and ribs and ice cream and pizza and fried chicken every single day of the week, then yes, she would be considered a hypocrite by anyone's standards. But ONE instance, Rush? One? And you're going to sit there and rag on all her efforts as a whole?

Seriously, how does he live with himself? He doesn't even realize how degrading his comments are to ALL women. She is not saying "go out and eat these roots and berries so you can look like a model." She is saying NOTHING about looks. It's about health and fixing the state of health crisis this country is currently in. However, at least now we know what is most important to him.

I mean, if you think about it, it's kind of funny that he thinks this is such a noteworthy piece of news that he just has to discuss on his radio show for all of his dear cult members to buy into. He obviously can't come up with anything interesting to say so he's going after the first lady in attempts to degrade her and her efforts, and by association ends up making degrading comments about women in general.

My advice to you, Rush? You might wanna consider her diet, because otherwise you'll never be on the cover of Playgirl. And that is just a crying shame because Lord knows, that's the only thing you should be striving for.

Planned Parenthood Funding.

The US House of Representatives has apparently voted to end all funding for Planned Parenthood - for any purpose. This is absolutely the most dangerous and horrible thing you can do to any woman you love. I'm ashamed and horrified right now that I live in a country where women are so disrespected that their basic rights and needs are being taken away because of a "moral" opinion of some.

What you people fail to recognize is that ending funding for planned parenthood cuts out more than just your unwarranted hatred for "pro-choice." It will end all help for lower class women and college students who can't afford to pay for birth control (and contrary to popular belief, some people take birth control for their health - heavy, irregular, and absolutely painful periods to hormone regulation - I, for one, started taking birth control for my health LONG before the thought of having sex even crossed my mind). Planned Parenthood helps women who don't have insurance, allows them to get tested for HIV, get breast and cervical cancer screenings, ultra sounds, STD treatment and education, helps victims of rape, and the list goes on and on. This vote is denying basic health care access and needs to women on the basis of an offensive opinion.

I'm just going to come out and say it - How could the republican party do this? They build their campaigns on "freedom" and living by the constitution and LESS government, yet they are CONSTANTLY digging into the issue of abortion by trying to take AWAY a woman's freedom to choose, and putting MORE government regulations on women's health care. How is this NOT considered hypocritical? It's none of their business what women do with their bodies, and frankly the fact that they think they can control this by taking away our freedom and access to help means that they still think women are second class citizens and shouldn't be treated with the same respect as men.

[How would men feel if we decided to take away their access to male doctors because we all found it immoral that some men get vasectomies in order to...OH, PREVENT BABIES! Sorry, you can no longer get this procedure done, because my opinion is that it's not right. And while your at it, no more getting your balls screened for prostate cancer because we're just gonna end funding for the entire thing. Sorry.]

Whether you believe one way or another, here's an easy solution: Don't take away ANYONE'S freedoms, and let your moral obligations dictate how YOU, PERSONALLY live your life. I don't care if you think abortion is the worst thing you could possibly do in the entire world, that is YOUR choice to NOT do it. However, just because YOU believe one way does not make it acceptable to force everyone to think that way or to take away people's right to choose what they do with their own body.

I'm absolutely sick of people taking their beliefs and attempting to put limits on the rest of the country based on that. You believe life should be lived one way, then go ahead and live it that way. But don't try to tell me and the rest of the country that your beliefs are the only way - because they're not and quite frankly, they're offensive.

Planned Parenthood has been helping women for a long time, giving them a place to turn to when their life is in shambles or when they can't afford to have a potentially life saving breast examination done. You can't take away all of that because you don't agree with one small fraction of the kind of help they provide women with. It's the most dangerous and disrespectful thing you can do.

Please sign this petition to help save Planned Parenthood if you haven't already.

I hate females who.....

Twitter is known to have some pretty outrageous trending topics, and only God knows where they start. Usually I just ignore them because of how ridiculous they sometimes tend to be. However, tonight I came across a trending topic called #ihatefemaleswho. Now it takes a LOT of people on twitter to get something to trend, so I'm appalled by the number of people who must be participating in this.

There's been 15 updates on this topic since I started writing.

The thing that upsets me the most about this statement is the complete lack of respect for women. I don't understand how this can seem OK to people. We wouldn't single out other groups of people by saying we hate them because it's disrespectful and wrong, right? You don't see people saying "I hate Mexican's who...." or "I hate Jewish people who..." because it's just not something you say. So, I don't see why people think that talking about women this way is no big deal.

There's been 93 updates on this topic since I started writing.

The other thing that depresses me, is that women are partaking in this blatant disrespect of their own kind. The fact that they don't recognize that it's disrespecting THEM floors me. Shouldn't we be supporting each other instead of putting each other down? Sticking up for each other instead of calling each other out on our flaws?

There's been 297 updates on this topic since I started writing.

The blatant lack of respect is mortifying to me. How is it possible that even women are partaking in this kind of rhetoric about their own kind? I'm glad some people out there are still buying into the idea that women are inferior and don't deserve the same amount of respect as anyone else. I mean, without that kind of logic towards people, we might all be....*GASP* equal?!?! Can't have that now can we.

Let's take a look at some of the things being said tonight:[Yes, because you've NEVER complained in your life, right? Oh wait....]

[Sucks that they CHOOSE to be built like that, right?]

[Because only pretty girls by YOUR standards should be allowed to sing -or even listen to that song.]

[Interesting that you're only willing to show the top of your head in your picture....]

[Hmm...I just can't think of a single good reason why someone wouldn't want to suck your obviously god-sent dick!]

[Yeah, that really is a bummer. It's just too bad that you can't get your own lazy ass up and cook something when you're hungry and instead rely on a stereotype to be fed.]

There's been 987 updates since I started writing this.

Gun Control.

For a long time I have been really indifferent on the issue of gun control. I (for the most part) really respect the US constitution and all the rights it provides citizens with. I take it very seriously when forming my views on certain issues. However, I have always been kind of indifferent about the right to bear arms. It's definitely an idea that I respect, but something about it has always made me a little wishy-washy on the subject.

Last night I watched Michael Moore's documentary, "Bowling for Columbine" and I haven't stopped thinking about it all day since. I feel like after seeing it my views on the subject have shifted. If you haven't seen it, it's really a film worth your time.

I do believe that citizens should have the right to protect themselves and if having a gun is the way they choose to do so, then I respect that. I respect the idea of having a gun for hunting purposes (even though I don't do that), and I respect the idea of having a gun for legitimate protection of yourself in harmful situations. What I don't understand is why people feel the need to own several different guns that aren't for either of those things. The problem lies with the NRA. I've concluded that the NRA has a really flawed vision of the second amendment. They take their views on the subject so far that there is no way to have any kind of gun control whatsoever. They are so protected by the constitution that they protect the selling of any kind of gun. I've been trying to figure out what someone's need for a gun like a TEC-DC9 is (which is what the boys at Columbine used). If you were looking for a gun for protection, a simple pistol would do the trick - there's no need for a military-like machine gun.

The thing that get's me is that guns are so incredibly obtainable these days. Literally anyone can go into a store that sells them and purchase one. I have a distant cousin who is very blatantly mentally ill and he was sold a gun at a gun store with no background check. One of my neighbors has told us that he has multiple guns in his home. The boys at Columbine high school got their guns at a gun show and purchased ammunition at a local K-Mart (which no longer sells ammo, thankfully) at 17 years old. How can we argue that everyone deserves the right to own a gun without some sort of formal process holding each person highly accountable for their purchase? They like to say they do, they like to say you have to have a permit to own a gun, but exactly how often is that enforced? And furthermore, just because YOU have a permit, does not mean your children who find a gun in your home do. It's surprising the number of shootings that happen by a kid with their parent's guns.

In Arizona, there is no gun control laws at all. Jared Laughner -the recent shooter of a congresswoman in Tucson, AZ, was allowed to have a gun with him. There was nothing at all stopping him from carrying that gun around town with him. It was perfectly legal for him to be there with a weapon, and frankly he was not the only person in the crowd with a gun. I don't know about you, but that doesn't make me feel safe - knowing that ANYONE can walk around with a gun at any time.

I guess what I'm getting at is an honest curiosity of WHY people feel an overwhelming need to own guns. Why does anyone need to own a machine gun? And what are we as a country going to do to lower the amount of deaths that occur each year by guns? If people refuse to even slightly change their attachment to possessing guns, then nothing will ever change. We shouldn't even be shocked when we hear about shootings, right? Because after all, we are the ones saying it's OK for anyone to have a gun, and by association shouldn't we expect people to use them? I mean, there is no written contract that you sign with your purchase that says, "I solemnly swear that I will only use this gun for protection if someone breaks into my house and tries to harm me or my family."And I am not justifying ANY shooting by any means, I'm just confused at how this logic works. To me, it doesn't make sense to be "pro-guns" yet also be upset and shocked when we hear about these tragic massacres.

Overall, I don't think my opinion is indifferent any longer. I think gun laws need to be more restricted, I think certain types of guns should not be sold to the public, and I think there needs to be stricter standards for who can own a gun in this country. It sickens me to think of the innocent people who have been killed by someone pulling a gun on them. And the age old saying, "guns don't kill people - people kill people" does not ring true to me. Yes people kill people, but they use guns to do it.