Oh Women, McCain Wants YOU!

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abortion, abstinence, Election 2008, equal pay, John McCain, Women's issues

I have to admit, I have found it curious and rather head scratching. Every time I have heard that women who were going to vote for Hillary were seriously thinking of giving that vote to McCain, I blanched, then recoiled, then went in the best Jon Stewart tradition—whhhaaaahhh?

Well it seems that like most of the electorate, a fair number of women are just not aware of the Mac’s history with women. Oh and I don’t mean his divorce and remarriage to wealthy Cindy. No, I’m referring to his past stances on women’s issues.

First it need be said that the now famous group, PUMA (Party Unity My Ass) formed after Hillary bowed out, and composed of her female supporters who refuse to go over to Obama, was (hold on to your panties ladies) actually formed by a McCain campaign donor. Yep, so says the Federal Elections Commission, and one would think they would know such things.

Thus the media has fallen down on the job once more. The size of PUMA is a good deal much smaller than claimed as well. Now McCain has said he welcomes these votes, but of course is not going after them. Bull-hockey pucks we say to that. Of course he is, (pointing up to the PUMA thing again.)

Much as I hate the carry-over language of the 2004 election, our dear old man is full of cow doodoo, and is once again rightly called a “flip-flopper.”

Facts: As early as 1999 McBush claimed he would not be for the repeal of Roe v. Wade, claiming it would force women to undergo illegal and  unsafe medical procedures. Today: Oh, that was misunderstood, somehow. He has “stated time and time again that Roe was a bad decision.”

He brags that he receives a zero rating from NARAL and Planned Parenthood. He claims his record is consistently pro-life. He has publicly claimed he will nominate pro-life judges to the SCOTUS.

According to Kate Sheppard in an article in In These Times, McCain has tried so hard to appease the wingnuts on the far right that he supported an amendment to SCHIPS declaring the unborn a child for the purposes of coverage, but then voted against extending coverage to poor women and pregnant women. Course that makes no sense, but we are talking about McCain after all.

He has consistently voted to imprison doctors and otherwise deny health care grants to institutions that provide abortion services. He routinely votes against providing education and contraception to teens, and opposed legislation that demanded that abstinence only education be accurate medically and scientifically. He votes against medical insurance coverage for contraception, but votes for measures that require insurance companies to cover Viagra prescriptions.

Of course, as McCain is wont to do, much of this he doesn’t remember anyway. When queried he gets confused, assumes he follows the President on this issue, and then when given specifics, just throws up his hands in confusion.

Many conclude that McCain’s position is not very clear in some sense, since it seems he’s not particularly passionate about the issue. This is not necessarily a good sign, since he will probably allow the party to dictate the platform.

On other issues he is also not favorable to women. He avoided the fair pay legislation, meant to over turn the SCOTUS decision that left women out in the cold when it comes to suing for unequal pay. Employers need only make it a policy that pay cannot be discussed by employees and then pay men more. If a women doesn’t some how uncover the unfairness for 18 months, she is out of luck in the courts. He avoided the vote but spoke out against the bill on the campaign trail, according to Sheppard. Course, as Sheppard points out, he comments were both sexist and showed a pathetic lack of understanding of the case in the first place.

As to civil rights, McCain has not shown any care for the plight of women of color either. He has consistently voted against affirmative action legislation. For instance he voted with the NAACP position on issues related to blacks, an abysmal 7% of the time.

The list goes on and on, and I urge you to read the entire article. In some respects, it seems that McCain is only being McCain. His personal life is reflected in his take on women’s issues it seems.

Send this around if you see fit to other women you know who may be fence sitting. Much thanks to Essential Estrogen for the link to the article cited above.

Meadow Insanity

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Meadow life

I just realized that I was not, as I used to, keeping you up on happenings in the meadow. And I know you have been dying to know! I am not quite ready this morning to get down to serious reading, so I thought I would ruminate about life here in the holler.

It’s in a word, HOT. Blazing, searing, water laden air hot. It steams through every crevice. Every piece of paper or cardboard is wimpy and threatens to tear if not handled gently. Flies stick to the skin, and dogs pant. And smart person that I am, with no house air-conditioning, I, (did I remind you how incredibly intellectually gifted I am?) chose to make a cheesecake and stroganoff for dinner! Yes, the oven was on a full hour though I suspect the cheesecake might have baked on the counter.

So added to the heat, I am GRUMPY. Yes, folks, me–bastion of good cheer is actually pissy as heck and I’m not going to take it any more. Well, I took a shower, and so I’m somewhat cooler, but only for a while I suspect. It seemed like a good time to vent and rant on life’s inconsistencies, so I will.

First, I am so sick of this campaign for president, I’m going to barf, or lose my mind, which ever comes first. I am confident, worried, seriously worried, content, anxious, angry, fist-shaking, ranting, gleeful, resolved, determined, frustrated, giving up, planning a coup, investigating other countries to live in, and circling back to confident again, usually within a day. I am worn out. I can’t imagine how I’m going to endure another 90+ days of this.

The Contrarian, (need I remind you) is stark raving mad. It’s his nature. I have learned to live with it. But I confess, sometimes it bears remarking on. His newest favorite remark is “What do you MEEEEAAAANNNNNN?” This is in response to my telling him he is crazy as a mad hatter. This is in response to one of his insane questions such as: Do Jewish men regard a toupee as fulfilling the requirement of having a head covering thus negating the need to wear a yamaka? Or this gem: Do you have taste buds on your lips? And it must be noted that these questions are apropos of exactly nothing. There is no conversation remotely tied to any of these questions. They just pop up out of thin air, sometimes just as we are dropping off to sleep!  I mean seriously, shouldn’t a woman of 58 be spared such nonsense? After all, I’m fighting the battle against Alzheimer’s too, and such questions surely do help to push one over the edge into dementia no? I mean I have learned to decipher his inane excuse for people’s names. Venus and Serena Williams are known as the Flytrap sisters, and Barack Obama will forever more be known as Barama. Isn’t that enough for one women to live with?

We watch Mad Men. We thoroughly enjoy this fictionalized account of the advertising world. Actually it helps me better understand why most commercials MAKE NO SENSE AND INSULT MY INTELLIGENCE. ( And we have established that it is a mighty intelligence being tampered with.) You see, advertising is filled with mostly men who drink all day long, chase every secretary in the office and call them sweetie, and beat their testosterone-deprived chests at regular intervals. They have no clue how the world actually works or how normal people live.

Actually their take on sex intrigues me most these days. Viagra and Cialis top the list. I am to assume that men sit around with guitars and jam singing “viva Viagra,” all because they–are a band of ED patients? Or my favorite, people all over America have two tubs set out on docks and in meadows to sit in next to each other. What is romantic about sitting alone in a tub in the middle of a field? Where do they get water? I’m dumbfounded. But apparently the hotshots at the ad joints think it will thrill my libedo to no end.

Why are my cats so intrigued with frogs these days? Why are frogs so prevalent this year that my cats seem to find them by the bucket fulls and leave them lying around? Some have petrified into sad specimens ready for inclusion in a sealed jar. Dried frog anyone? Fine as a garnish on salad for sure. Others sail off with tremendous leaps as I roll near with the vacuum. And then a cat scurries by, hot on the trail, ready to make it sail along once again. Finally the frog becomes exhausted of this game and dies. The cat loses interest, but never has the decency to carry off the dead playmate to a decent grave.

Why can’t the dogs respect the fact that I slave day and night , day 45 minutes a day cleaning house? Why don’t they wait outside when wet, and after having lain in sand, to DRY OFF before coming in? Piles of sand dominate every freaking place and I’m tired of sweeping!!!!! The Contrarian can take note as well, and shake off before he comes in too. The dogs merely follow his example no doubt.

Why do people try to take advantage of the fact that food prices are high. I mean, we went to the Farmer’s Market in Hiawatha yesterday after Church. Seventy-five cents for A STINKING GREEN PEPPER? Please don’t insult my intelligence that seed and fertilizer has gone up that much. I wanted a peck of them; instead I bought NONE. Okay, I should have bought one, since it cost me $.92 for one at Walmart. So much for low prices!

What is so hard to understand about this? I’m at the Fareway, where we get our meat. I am at the butcher section. I say, “I’ll take that (pointing) sirloin, and cut it in half.” The apprentice with no brain replies, “One package?” What I want to say: “No moron kid, surprise surprise but we too can buy knives. If I just wanted it cut in two I can do that myself.” Instead I say, “No, packaged separately.”  Next, I order “Two bone-in chicken breasts, split them and package separately.” What do I get when I unwrap one a week later? One full breast, split and boned. Am I speaking some other language here? Or is there some mysterious “butcher” language” I’m not aware of? If so, why is there no translation book tied to the counter for my assistance?

I don’t want you to think that all is insane in the meadow. I’m sane, of that I can assure you. And we had a lovely time at Church yesterday. I’m calling today or so and make arrangements to start whatever process is required to actually convert, join or otherwise tie my horse to the wagon of Anglican theology. The Contrarian went, because he likes to be supportive. Being a reformed apathetic agnostic, he is fairly non-committal on all such issues. He groused that there were no bibles in the pews. He enjoys reading it when he finds things getting boring–he has warned me, that should I find him in a fight with another man, under no condition should I grab the man’s testicles. Grave consequences will follow he assures me. He read that in Leviticus. These cause short bursts of chortling aloud so I recommend if you see him at your Church, you remove all bibles from his vicinity.

Mostly he behaved himself, though I saw a sly grin crease his face during the Gospel, which was done in tableau form. Reference to there not being time was illustrated by the actor looking at his wrist. The Contrarian wondered if watches were somehow invented back then, but thought not.

Such has been life here in the meadow. I’m sure you find it amusing to read about all this. It’s vastly less amusing to live it I tell you. But then again, much better than most any other way of living that I can imagine. Laters folks, I’m off to rescue another frog that just hopped by. Oh and is that Moses coming down the hill? Now I know where the frogs came from!