Limbaugh and the War on Women

It seems as though Rush Limbaugh lingers like a bad dream in my subconscious, and the only way to exorcize him is by writing until he goes away.  How can such a blubbery whale of venom and bloody self-righteousness be allowed to RULE the airwaves?  Why is he always rubbing his body when he's being filmed doing his job?  When he was demonizing Ms. Sandra Fluke he couldn't keep his hands off himself. Ick. There are many, many true gentleman in the Conservative movement, for example George Will and the late William F. Buckley, Jr.  WHY is Limbaugh the de facto KING of the CONSERVATIVES, this man without any self-awareness at all?  What does his lofty position in "society" really say about us AND the U.S. and OUR current values?

He'd most likely blame anybody but himself for being a boiling piss-pot of rage. This man has the gall to say the most toad-like remarks, words that pour like slimy polliwogs from his mouth. He blames women: bad mommy! eeevil Girl Scouts (huh? tiny-femi-Nazis in training??); his ex-wives, his house-cleaners -- ANY woman unfortunate enough to cross his path.

He stirs the cauldron of hate and seems to relish his role in the degradation of speech in this country.  Yup, First Amendment rights for all, except for gays, minorities, the 'elites' - not a single person in the country has properly, logically defined this word "elite/s in any way. What have we got here: liberal elite, elite media, elite universities, newscasters, newspapers? How can you define a word when it is a 'one size fits all’ insult?

One comment on that point of view, and this is the matter of attacks upon Education -- particularly science and the matter of EVOLUTION and (mournful sigh) Devolution When (if ever) do we grasp what is happening on our home, this beautiful, beautiful earth, and stop with the name-calling already!

Anyone, I mean ANYONE who goes after GIRL SCOUTS is a blight upon the land (I was one -we sat around the campfire singing "Kum Ba Yah" with innocent hearts and hope for the future.) That man whose hatred of a gender extends to the tiniest of the species, or anyone who doesn't think like King Rush; gets sliced and diced faster than a carrot in a Cuisinart! WITCH! (or in Rush Terms, "itch-Bay", unt-cay, femi-Nazi, ad nauseam.)

Don't you just love the idea of that man poisoning the minds of the people of America? There are so many damned fine guys out there, and they are needed for a set of problems that have never beset the world before. We need to work in tandem, in harness together, or we might as well kiss our glorious country and its formerly heroic status in this world goodbye.

So can we get off the Trash Talk Train and get back to business?

Somehow I doubt that the Founding Fathers had Rush Limbaugh in mind when they envisioned an America in the future. Don't get me wrong -- free speech in a free society is essential, but there is a difference between writing an op-ed piece and turning the hoses and rubber bullets on innocent albeit annoyed protestors like the kids in Oakland at the Occupy protests. Oh, beauteous, bounteous America, you're looking like a police state instead of the Land o' the Free. Swell, just swell.

As many women have been observing lately, there is a giant conservative movement to keep us down on our knees, scrubbing the floors, and servicing our husbands/masters -- yes, serving them in all ways (see “Mad Men" - and yes, it really WAS like that).  Now that we have shown what we CAN DO in the world and in the workplace many men are feeling just a wee tad frustrated by our intellect, capacities and ability to perform as well as a man.  Now we have the incentive of equal pay for equal work; thank you Lily Ledbetter and the Prez.  Just keep keeping the word "obey" out of those wedding ceremonies!!

My god I never thought I would see our country go Retro so fast, ever ever.  But I have noticed that when there is a time of great Change people become fearful.  When people are fearful, they tend to suppress those that are smaller and weaker -- i.e. women and children, gays and minorities.  Close your eyes if you will, but the signs of this Change - migrations of populations, extinction of species and the geographical changes of the earth in general are all around us.  I think the men are frozen in primeval terror and have turned their unwelcome attention to "fixing" and repressing women as opposed to fixing bridges, roads, medical care, and so forth.

Women have been dominated and suppressed like chattel for thousands of years.  Yes, we have made some advances, but even those are in danger and I think we'd better stamp out this new but dangerous fire here and NOW.  I thought politicians were supposed to -- govern?  They are elected to do things like fix the roads and bridges - but from the moment of THE previous election most of them begin planning for re-election, jousting for power for tasks they don't do, and trying to interfere in the most private women's business, which is NO BUSINESS of men except within a family!  If this sort of "Father Knows Best" "Leadership" from the GOP persists we're going to have some damned upset women in this country.

The commonplace but incredibly important tasks of running this country seem quite secondary to the current batch of Republican politicians. They are sooo busy making sure "the gals" are in their place, with wombs open for business non-stop.  Endless Viagra for all, covered by insurance, and a job for the ladies for the next 20 or so years whether they want it or not.  Rush Limbaugh (he of three wives and who knows how many affairs) decries the amount of sex all we sinful people out there are having as he's caught with a friend's Viagra.  Well, Rush -- there will be less sex all right, and we monogamous couples will be NO exception, unless you fancy playing Russian roulette with the old "rhythm method". I did, and I have two lovely daughters to show for it! One was conceived during the first day of my cycle, the other during the last day.  So much for that approach!

Once women understand that Viagra puts her in danger of her next pregnancy, how interested do you think they will be in keeping those fires hot within your relationship?  And as for the guys -- I predict that new brothels will be doing a booming business with frustrated, attention needing (and deserving) husbands and eventually, there will be hell to pay as the formerly cheerful voting block of happy, independent women lose their freedom to their 8 children while her husband is enslaved to the modern version of the "company store" and a "more understanding" woman on the side.

I know JUST where this is going because we as a Nation founded by Puritans have done this before.  We are obsessed with sex; we are ashamed of sex.  We are so repulsed by it that our movies have been sexually suppressed by moguls for decades.  The movies we allow our children to see are for the most part filled with unspeakable horror and violence, or repugnant swill of some sort.

At least the GOP candidates have been VERY clear about their philosophy: no Planned Parenthood, eventually, or as little contraception as possible, Viagra on demand, women enslaved -- but they played their hand so ruthlessly and quickly that hopefully we do NOT FORGET.

Marriage is for procreation, they say.

I mean come on!  There are a lot of reasons for people who want sex not to marry -- loss of benefits, various legal issues, etc.  Or simply, people marry for companionship, to pool resources, because they are lonely and don't want to be alone.  For Example my 85 years + years old Granny married an 89 year old gentleman (a very innocent, young accountant for AL CAPONE in his junior years) for companionship.

Is there a Cookbook Plan out there for defining and legislating the morality of Senior Sexuality? Should they be allowed to marry at all? If marriage is for procreation, according to the staunch protestations of Newt, Rick and Willard -- should Seniors even be allowed to wed? Why? They can't procreate, so if that's the reason Gays can't marry, why should Seniors ... how does your philosophy stand up to that question?  Quite simply, it can't.

The hypocrisy around the word "Life" is staggering, since the gang pushing us to change our ways doesn't want to provide for the "Life" it wishes to force upon our country. The world groans with an unsustainable population, while the medieval Pope insists that the population grow unchecked.  I do not mean to offend, but it seems to me that many religions are stuck in the middle ages and do not have the flexibility to change their policies even about contraception.  The priests prefer the rich, cloistered halls and cool chambers inhabited only by a world of men and hairless young boys.  We were too blind to see.

Women, get yourselves elected -- there's only a few ways we're going to turn this around -- through the help of our men, at the voting booth, and by helping to shape the policy!! Plus, in the words of Graham Nash, "Teach Your Children Well".

Consider Rush Limbaugh and the shocking degree of ignorance he betrayed on the pill as contraception:  his understanding is that you take a pill every time you want to have sex! That left me absolutely choking with laughter - what an idiot. And HE is the one teaching all this crap to all those people who soak up his "knowledge" on a daily basis. What horrifies me is that folks actually BELIEVE him. All those good men and women traveling through the states listening to BIG RADIO get their education every day.

We must educate all of our children about American and World history and the current political climate so that they can be informed voters as they mature.  We and our children MUST somehow be protected/protect ourselves from this most vile, paternalistic form of hateful of government, which masquerades as the world's greatest Democracy.  Maybe we still are, but our vaunted freedoms are slipping away, under attack by Right and Left.

Then there's that "SMALL GOVERNMENT" that the GOP wants to foist upon us -- as opposed to a Government that exists to SERVE its people.  Any Government that assumes the radical power to "rape" a woman with a cylindrical tube is no small government, despite what the GOP says they desire.  Don't believe them -- they want "kitchen slaves" again
.
How does that work for the rest of us - women, minorities, the poor - and our desire to be rocket scientists, physicists, doctors, nurses, teachers, etc.?

It doesn't.

I want my country and the hope and opportunity it represented, and still could.  Really. It still could.

Nancy Pelosi and Sexism in American Politics

Here's something I forgot to post a while back -- a few years back, I believe. I wish I'd done it then but I've made some alterations so that I can speak of my respect, admiration and affection for my particular Hero, Nancy Pelosi, as she prepares to leave center stage as the FIRST woman Speaker of the House of Representatives. I think we Democrats, caring as we always have for the weakest among us -- are the heart and soul of American politics. I offer this piece as tribute to Madame Speaker of the House -- Nancy Pelosi, one of the Greats in American politics.

It has been amazing to watch her in the last few years -- her graciousness, her command of her caucus -- the accolades of her fellows, who say that her kindness is unflagging and her spine is made of steel. I do not doubt that, as she has passed an astonishing quantity of GOOD Legislation in the House that has gone off to die in the Senatorial Graveyard of GOP obstructionism -- despite the welfare of the American people they claim so often to speak for.

She has been a target for these last few years, this good and brilliant woman, in such an ugly fashion that only the attacks on the President have been worse. She has been demonized for her looks, her clothes, her values -- yes, those San Francisco values of caring for your fellow men, and that has been what her term as Speaker has been about -- trying to accomplish the wishes of the President. She seems a much stronger figure to me than either the President or the Senate Leader, Harry Reid.

At the beginning of her term, the first lashings she received were when she stated that the CIA had misled Congress. For months she was the target of every Republican I can think of. I can still remember the phony, sanctimonious outrage of John Boehner! And then we learned that she was right. We find that the C.I.A. DID mislead Congress by order of former Vice President Dick Cheney, and President Bush signed off on it. Everybody, it seemed, lied to Congress.

Hello out there in GOP-Land -- Speaker Pelosi was correct, and I don't believe I've heard any apologies about that or any other smear you've painted her with. And in fact, when all this was happening, those who knew she spoke the truth let the lies stand as they continued to jump up and down, screeching and flinging their ideological scat on her.

These are the moments when I hate politics -- when people with ideas become ideologues, when those who know the truth remain silent in service to their particular political Party, no matter the cost to the rest of us and the Country as a whole. This country was NEVER meant to be built on a base of lies and corruption -- how far we have fallen.

American women have spoken often and for decades about the difficulty of overcoming sexism in our political theater. The barracuda-like feeding frenzy that occurred around Ms. Pelosi a few years back when she stated that the saintly brotherhood of the C.I.A. had misled Congress about torture, or "enhanced techniques" in Bush-speak is certainly a case in point. The sanctimonious outrage that flared up around the Speaker of the House was hot enough to light the kindling under the stake she had been tied to.

My god, what was that compared to what Dick Cheney has done while in office, and after, until his evil heart broke down and prevented further political interference, except through his wretched daughter? Where is the outrage against Cheney or Bush for bringing this country to the brink of ruin?

Where is the outrage against those who involved us in bank-breaking, heart-breaking, body-smashing endless wars because THEY WANTED TO??? For torturing in our name in order to get the information they wanted to justify a war they had already waged? For continuing to JUSTIFY torture to the point where a huge percentage of our population believe it's okay?

Somehow, in the confused, hostile logic of some Republicans, all the crimes of Bush-Co were as nothing compared to the possible perfidy of Pelosi. Such nonsense. And I do think the attack has been stronger because she's a woman. I'm throwing this out as a possibility though I didn't consider it at first -- and then I woke up and started noticing various attacks on political women.


There is a feeling that nobody is addressing the sexist aspect of the attacks. This has been deeply disturbing to anyone who can see that Nancy Pelosi is a relative angel in the middle of all these power-mad, corrupt men who aligned against her.  The attacks on "fancy Nancy' (Mike Huckabee) have to do with botox and her clothing, mainly, as there's not much else they can think of.

Here's another example -- think Hillary Clinton and her run for the Presidency -- every bloody anchorman in the States (including most of the MSNBC guys) laughed at her voice and freaking pantsuits. How people tried to trivialize that formidable woman! Even Sarah Palin must be mentioned, because she was brought down in a particularly savage fashion (errr -- thank god), although she continues to annoy!

To really regard the level of animosity directed at these women is to comprehend a virulent stream of particularly American sexism that is ignored because it is commonplace. But this was a spectacular witch-hunt, and I thought I might point it out.

Despite all the negativity, there have been of late a few montages of Madame Speaker pounding the gavel and beaming while everything her President asked for passed. She did her job, and she did it well. Too bad about the dinosaurs obstructing progress. Part of progress is letting the women in to clean up the mess you boys have made, and not burning them at the stake for it.

I have heard and read it said that she will be regarded as one of the most powerful Speakers in generations, and I believe that. Can this show us that power can be wielded with grace and gentility, and by a woman? I think so. Madame Speaker, I consider you a truly heroic figure, and I am so grateful for all you've accomplished. You have my complete admiration and utter thanks. Someday your dreams will be not only vindicated, but realized. You are, unfortunately for us all, far ahead of your time.