Why I’m Annoyed With Politics

Posted by Leann | Posted on 02-05-2012

Category : 2012 Presidental Election, American Politics, Gay Rights, The War on Women, Women's Health, Women's Rights

One of the things that annoys me most about politics is that on nearly every single ballot lies the risk of forfeiting some aspect of my reproductive rights and health care.

I’m concerned about other things too, like education standards and costs, the current tax structure for individuals and businesses, foreign policy, overspending by government employees, gay rights, gun control and a variety of other things. But until my reproductive rights are no longer up for debate, and we arrive at equal pay for all Americans, I won’t vote on any other issues, plain and simple.

I’m tired of focusing on these issues that should already be settled. Women have the right to abortion. They should not be probed vaginally to provide them with proof of their pregnancy, or be tortured in any other way as a twisted way of trying to stop abortions. Health insurance for women  should not cost more than men’s health insurance. Women’s health insurance plans should not exclude women’s health. Women should not earn less than men for equal work. I mean, these things are so fundamental, so ridiculously obvious. Why in 2012 are we still debating them?

Can’t we just move on already? For once, I’d like to vote on something else, where these things are resolved and aren’t in danger of being repealed.

Heil Santorum – The New US Dictator

Posted by Leann | Posted on 29-02-2012

Category : American Politics, Gay Rights, Religion, Women's Health

One of the most dangerous people rising in American Politics is Rick Santorum. Many religious people believe that he can bring a religious component to a country whose very foundation rests upon freedom of religion, that being the First Amendment and the indoctrination of separation of church and state. The Catholic religion is so oppressive that 98% of Catholic-American women do not follow its views on contraception. There are other Vatican-related views that many Catholic-American women also do not follow, such as having sex with their husband for purposes other than to have children (such as intimacy), divorcing abusive husbands to protect themselves and their children. Many Catholic-American women seek treatment after being raped, which is also not acceptable by the Catholic church, even though it’s not abortion, it’s still contraception. There are no rules to protect women against the physically intrusive abuse afflicted upon them by men. They must bear it.

If a person of Catholic faith wants to argue these points, that’s fine. You’re still allowed to practice your religion.  But I’m not a Catholic, nor do I want to become one. With all due respect, some of the basic tenents of the Catholic religion go against my very core as a human being and as woman. I work. I vote. I pay taxes. My body is mine and mine alone. When I die, my heart will stop beating and the blood will stop running through my veins. It’s all mine, all the time, from the beginng of my time until the end of my time. Nobody, and I do mean nobody, has the right to make decisions about my body except me.

Santorum doesn’t believe in the separation of church and state.  He said he felt like “throwing up” after listening to a famous speech by President Kennedy, because, unlike JFK, Rick believes that the church and state should be combined. Rick would then take his lead from the Vatican, with no respect to the religious views of others, which would only be fitting for a Catholic nation.  Too bad if you’re Protestant, or Evangelical Christian or Baptist or Jewish, or Muslim, or agnostic or athiest. If we become a Catholic nation, you may not have all the freedoms you have now, and we may change a few laws around making sure that only men of Catholic perusation can become president of the US, or maybe we can change some laws in the private sector. Maybe only Catholics can have money. Sorry if you’re a Protestant, you’ll have to move. The Catholics want your house. It’s a very slippery slope. It may seem close to your religion now, but what if it’s not close enough? Don’t think it can happen? It did in Germany. Remember that nice guy Hitler? He took advantage of the German people during a crisis. In fact, one good crisis is really all it takes to convince people to give up their rights. Think of all the rights we’ve “willingly” given up in the name of security since 9/11. We’re prime for someone like Rick Santorum. Here are some other ways Rick will keep the average American down:

According to Rick, education is not the American dream after all, just something that snobby people want. Rick has an MBA and a law degree, and expects all of HIS children to go to college or become skilled in a trade, but not yours.  I forget who he said is the snob. Higher education is for the elite, and Rick wants to keep it that way.
   
Rick doesn’t believe women should have control of their bodies, and certainly not their reproductive health since it’s against his religion. If you think welfare is expensive now, wait until you see how much it costs with a new and explosive wave of unplanned pregnancies by women who can’t afford contraception, let alone children. Any woman who takes her health or body into her own hands will be handled by Rick personally. He’ll hold you down, shove a probe into your vagina and make you watch it all on a computer screen. Well, that’s not fair, you’re allowed to close your eyes. And yes, this is really on many state ballots right now, which Rick supports. No joke.

Rick says women do not belong in the work force. They should be minding their husbands and keeping the house in order.  There is no other purpose for women.

Rick wants gay military to hide their sexuality so as not to distract the real men of the military.

Rick believes that neither women nor gays should serve in the military. No point honoring any of their achievements or bravery, as they are a “distraction” to the heterosexual men on the battlefield.

Rick thinks the best way to rejuvenate the economy is to get women and gays out of the workforce and give their jobs to men who have families to support.

Rick’s goal is to repeal any and all social freedoms that contradict his religious views. He’ll be in your bedroom making sure you don’t have sex unless you plan to have children (which the husbands will determine), he’ll be refusing your kids a higher education, he’ll put women back in the kitchen where they belong, which will open up tons of jobs for men, he’ll be shoving gays and lesbians back in the closet (or refusing them jobs), and he’ll be ruling with an iron fist. He says he wants less government, but without more government, how can he possibly enforce all of these things? Oh, that’s right, our kids will have less access to higher education, so it shouldn’t be too hard to push them around.

You’ll have less education, no women grabbing your job (assuming you’re a guy since women have no business working, especially not being in the military or politics), more kids, and a new national religion. “Life, liberty and the pursuit of Rick Santorum’s idea of happiness.” The new Declaration of Independence. Rick will consult with the Roman Pope and together they’ll give you a briefing on the new theology-based US Laws.  Be home by 7 pm. That’s the new curfew by the way.

Santorum, Planned Parenthood and Prop 8 – A Mixed Message in the US

Posted by Leann | Posted on 08-02-2012

Category : American Politics, Gay Rights, Women's Health

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Santorum had a full sweep of three states in the race for the presidential Republican nomination – Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado. Not only is he against abortion, a standard Republican platform, he’s also against birth control and gay marriage. So what are we to take away from a landmark day like yesterday, when a man like Santorum wins three states, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Karen Handel resigns over a scandal she waged against Planned Parenthood and a Californian court upholds that the gay marriage bill, Proposition 8 is unconstitutional for discriminating against gays and lesbians?

Let’s look a little further…

Rick Santorum – Republican Presidential Candidate For White Straight Men and Nobody Else – Winner of  3 States in One Day

Santorum is the same man who lost his 2006 Senate bid for reelection by a landslide 18 points in Pennsylvania for his polarizing views that alienated women and those in the gay and lesbian community. That’s quite a lot of people.

He condemned couples who live together without being married, and criticized women for working outside of the home, pointing to “radical feminism” as the primary culprit. Radical feminism, by the way, is the notion that women are people too. That’s really all it is. Kinda crazy, huh? It makes me concerned for his wife and daughters who are probably taught that it is best to leave the big decisions for the man in the house and not use their own brains. Forget the abortion debate, Santorum goes straight for the jugular in that he doesn’t believe that women should use or have access to birth control. He is completely and utterly against most of the services that Planned Parenthood is known for. His notions date so far back to women’s suffrage that I can’t help but wonder if he also thinks that women shouldn’t have the right to vote. There is no mistaking that for women, Santorum is a dangerous guy whose goals are to eliminate as many of our rights as he possibly can.

Santorum is not terribly likable by the gay and lesbian community either. He flatly opposes legalized gay marriage, as do many conservatives. However, he went one step further, citing gay marriage could result in legal protections for polygamy, incest and bestiality. Yeah, bestiality. Clearly he is out of touch, but it does leave one to wonder what he does in his own bedroom.

Karen Handel’s Lost War Against Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood came under attack this past week when Susan G. Komen for the Cure announced they were going to de-fund Planned Parenthood’s breast screening program, which they’ve contributed to for the past 20 years. Although Komen never admitted that the decision was political, there was never a doubt in the public eye, for those who support the choice to have abortion or those who do not. I’m sure Komen was surprised to find themselves the focus of intense public outrage, losing supporters in record numbers, while Planned Parenthood received an unexpected $3 million windfall from thousands of women who had received a variety of services from them, from breast screenings to reproductive health care when they were unable to afford it themselves. Tens of thousands of comments lit up Komen’s Facebook page condemning them for politicizing women’s heallh care. Feeling betrayed, long-time Komen supporters stated that they were cutting up their pink ribbons and discarding everything pink, refusing to purchase anything that would provide Komen with more funds to achive their new political agenda. Many believed that Komen’s recent VP Karen Handel was behind the unexpected decision,. Handel lost her 2010 bid for Georgia Governor on the platform of being against and planning to defund and dismantel Planned Parenthood. The Huffington Post stated that they have seen internal communication from Komen executives that supports the accusation that Handel instigated and helped plan the move to stop funding breast cancer screenings for low-income women at Planned Parenthood. After Komen recinded its decision, the public demanded Handel’s resignation, which came yesterday. The message was loud and clear, “Don’t politicize women’s health.” So how does a guy like Rick Santorum win on the same day that Handel hands over her resignation?

The Legal Right to Marry is Gaining Momentum for Gays and Lesbians

The decision to reject Proposition 8 was upheld by California’s 9th District Court as unconstitutional, citing that it was discriminatory against gays and lesbians. It is expected that proponents of the anti-gay bill will appeal yesterday’s latest ruling, sending it next to the Supreme Court for a final ruling.

Those in favor of the bill believe that marriage should only be between opposite-sex couples and feel that providing gays and lesbians with the same rights diminishes the very constition of marriage. Those who oppose the bill say that it discriminates against gays and Lesbians in fundamental ways, that their partners are not recognized in many legal and socially situations – from visiting partners in hospital emergency rooms to property rights after death to the privilege of not being required to testify against his or her spouse in any proceeding. Gay rights activists believe that states must recognize their civil unions and grant them the same rights as opposite-sex couples.

 So in a day and age where it seems like women have made a very clear statement on their views about contraception and health care relating specifically to themselves, where gays and lesbians are one step closer to legalized marriage, a man like Rick Santorum who adamantly opposes all of the aforementioned is nominated for the Rupublican Presidential candidate in three state elections on the very same day.

Just like the middle class is eroding and leaving us with two distinct groups in the US – the rich and the poor, so too are our views polorizing us as a nation, where some are prepared to wage attack on the fundamental rights that have taken years to achieve.

In our world where we have so much to think about, together as a nation - war, education, the economy, jobs, international relations - it’s a wonder that anyone has the energy, desire or time to spend diminishing the rights of others to make themselves and their narrow, sexist, biggoted, and religious views the law of this land, the United States of America.