I don’t know if you caught this or not, but the Republicans in the Michigan State House of Representatives banned a female Democratic rep from speaking on the floor of the House after her speech on an anti-abortion bill. The offending remarks?
“Finally, Mr. Speaker, I’m flattered that you’re all so interested in my vagina, but ‘no’ means ‘no,’†Rep. Lisa Brown (D) said to cap her remarks in which she expressed stark opposition to a series of bills regulating abortion, including one that would ban the procedure after 20 weeks unless the woman’s life was in danger….
Yes, she used the “V” word, much to the horror of male Republicans.
House Republicans called the remarks over the line and barred her from participating in a subsequent debate on education.
“It was so offensive, I don’t even want to say it in front of women,†one state representative said. “I would not say that in mixed company.â€
No doubt he’d be happy to say it behind their backs (and I doubt he’d use the word “vagina” either. But, um, I’m pretty sure most women know they have them, buddy, so it’s OK to say it out loud (I mean, in an appropriate context, of course). And I’m no medical expert, but I’m pretty sure that’s what you call those things (I mean, I’ve heard them called a few other things as well, but I believe that’s the “technical” term).
“If I can’t say the word vagina, why are we legislating vaginas?†Brown said at a press conference. “What language should I use?â€
Maybe she should have said “…interested in my Coulter.”
Republicans also ignored another MI State rep (who happens to be a woman; pure coincidence – there is no Republican war on women).
A second lawmaker, Rep. Barb Byrum (D), was also gaveled down after introducing a bill that would require men to prove that their life was in danger before they were allowed to receive a vasectomy.
“I was ignored by the majority floor leader and not allowed to speak on my amendment, which would have held the same standards for men and women when it comes to legal, voluntary procedures in reproductive health, and now I am being silenced for standing up for women….â€
Hey, lady, keep you hands off my, um, thingie.
There’s a sentence I never thought I’d write.
Unfortunately, the war on women is real and very scary to me.
Me too, me too. It’s ok to talk about everything that goes on in the vagina- rape, consensual sex, birth, abortion, birth control, prostitution, Hugh Hefner…. But good heavens, name it????
My usual retort you well know.
Maybe we ought to start a campaign to call these creeps and when they answer the phone say, “vagina, vagina, vagina” and hang up.
Hmmm, think I know what I’ll do during lunch on Monday.
PS why is this guy walking across Niagra Falls at night? I guess I could ask, why is this guy walking across Niagra Falls?
Running on Empty
By GAIL COLLINS
Our biggest political division is the war between the empty places and the crowded places.
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It’s natural. People who live in crowded places tend to appreciate government. It’s the thing that sets boundaries on public behavior, protects them from burglars and cleans the streets. If anything, they’d like it to do more. (That pothole’s been there for a year!) The people who live in empty places don’t see the point. If a burglar decides to break in, that’s what they’ve got guns for. Other folks don’t get in their way because their way is really, really remote. Who needs government? It just makes trouble and costs money.
The Tea Party is so Empty Places. Do you remember that Tea Party rally in Washington last year over the budget crisis? (That would be the spring budget crisis as opposed to the many other seasonal versions.) “Nobody wants the government to shut down,†began Representative Mike Pence of Indiana, diplomatically. “Yes we do!†cried voices from the crowd.
The Empty Theory made a lot of sense when the country was full of isolated farms, but it lost its mojo when the farmland filled up with suburbs and we elected a long series of presidents who were, to one degree or another, Modified Crowded. But now Empty is making a comeback, less an expression of physical reality than a state of mind. People living on Social Security and Medicare in a 400-unit condo development built with federal subsidies can march to their congressman’s town-hall meeting and demand that he get government out of their hair.
Lately, I’ve been fascinated with Texas, the perfect exemplar of the New Empty. The population of Texas is approaching 26 million, mostly urban-suburbanites. But many of them believe they’re on the lone prairie. “Ask my students,†a professor at Texas A&M University told me. “They all associate themselves with the country. They’re living a myth. They think of Texas as open wide, but 80 percent of the people in Texas live in one of the major metropolitan areas.â€
Texas is so Tea Party. Democrats haven’t won a statewide race there since 1994. Dick Armey, the former House majority leader, was one of the Tea Party’s organizational founders. Ron Paul was a kind of intellectual godfather. Rick Perry hails from an area in West Texas nicknamed “The Big Empty.†So, on the one hand, it seemed appropriate that Mitt Romney nailed down the presidential nomination there. On the other hand, the support seemed a little less than full-throated. Perry, who maintained his perfect record of election victories by making his name miraculously disappear from the ballot, told The Texas Tribune that he was super-enthusiastic about his party’s nominee. Then he noted that “we really don’t have an option here.â€
Romney may be conservative, but he’s hopelessly Crowded Places. You may remember the cringe-inducing moment in 2007 when he started bragging about his prowess as an outdoorsman. (“I purchased a gun when I was a young man. I’ve been a hunter pretty much all my life.â€) Inquiring minds checked the hunting licenses in all the places that Mitt had at some point called home and determined that he’d never applied for one. “I’ve always been a rodent and rabbit hunter,†he amended. “Small varmints, if you will.â€
Supporters describe this as a harmless bit of self-dramatization to emphasize Romney’s strong commitment to gun rights. Although actually, when he ran for the United States Senate and served as governor, he appeared to be very enthusiastic about gun control. (We could do this sort of thing all day. Having Mitt Romney as a presidential candidate is going to be one long Where’s Waldo on the issues front.)
But until he dropped out of the race, varmint hunting was the dog on the roof of Romney’s 2008 campaign.
When he was leading Massachusetts, Romney tried to make the state’s programs work better. Now he seems to be going for the lonely-but-throbbing heart of the Empty Places credo, which focuses much less on fixing government than simply getting rid of it. Last week, he announced that the country doesn’t need “more firemen, more policemen, more teachers.†When that turned out to be overkill, Mitt backtracked, saying that localities pay for popular public employees like firefighters while, as president, he’d be dealing only with the unloved federal work force. (We have not really heard much about which of those workers he wants to see go. Social Security administrators? Park rangers? I’m putting my money on bank regulators and Securities and Exchange Commission enforcers.)
This fall, the Republican Party is going to be running on the Empty Places war cry, and it’s ironic that Mitt Romney’s supposed to be the one to lead the charge. Maybe he’ll one-up Perry and find four federal agencies to promise to close. Maybe he’ll bag a deer. Or a moose. They’re serious this time around.
The first of Palemale’s 3 babies has fledged, apparently without being noticed. Once a bird has fledged his parents continue to bring him food as a young hawk needs to learn how to fly and then how to hunt.
http://www.palemale.com/
Palemale is getting a bit old, isn’t he SP? Hasn’t he been around since 1995?
According to Wikipedia he hatched in 1990. I have no idea how long a hawk can live but some birds do have long lifespans. It’s unusual to have a bird so constantly observed and chronicled as Palemale. At this point he is a good hunter (mainly of pigeons although redtails are supposed to prefer rats). He seems to really like raising a family.
There are a lot of hawk fatalities around the city but they seem to die from eating poisoned rats and car accidents.
Palemale was the first redtail but now there are many more and many have careful and consistent observers. Recently a redtail female lost her mate after their chicks had hatched and another male took his place and has been feeding and hunting for his adopted family. That has never been observed before though it may or may not be a common behavior.
I think Palemale has taught many people much about redtails.
According to National Geographic, the average lifespan in the wild for a Red Tail is 21 years.
We have tons of them around here.