Sep

30

An Obama Ad About Rape?

Filed Under 2008 election, Democrats, media, politics, rape and sexual assault, violence against women and girls | 15 Comments

Via Feministing, it looks like the Obama campaign is planning to film a campaign commercial with a rape survivor telling her own experience.  Like Ann, I come down on the side that it’s not in any way inherently exploitative (assuming, of course, that the woman in question is entirely and unequivocally on board with what they’re doing):

Political and issue-based campaigns frequently recruit people with first-hand experience to speak publicly and in ads. I wondered, would my reaction be so strong if the Obama campaign was seeking a laid-off autoworker to discuss his economic policies? Decidedly not.

All too often rape survivors are seen as objects of pity, rather than as people who have agency and a powerful voice. At a basic level, it’s good to have real women (not actresses playing survivors, Lifetime-movie-style) stand up and speak to this issue from experience. The major caveat, of course, is that there cannot be any coercion involved. And it doesn’t look like there was.

In fact, I will go a step further to say that at a basic level, of course having not seen the commercial as of yet, this is absolutely fabulous.  Really, I’m downright thrilled about it.  Yes, even if it’s a mere attack ad against Sarah Palin, because the rape kit thing absolutely deserves to be attacked, as does her atrocious position on abortion.

The idea of sexual violence being made into a campaign issue just boggles my fucking mind.  I’ll tell you what: that is not politics as usual, that is being willing to tackle an issue that is traditionally seen as: a) secretive and shameful, b) only affecting women (false) and therefore unimportant (doubly false) and c) really controversial — not because rape is wrong, but because there are too many people out there who don’t want rapists to be held accountable for it.  The kind of politics where we can talk about sexual violence as though the government should have a role in preventing rape and holding rapists accountable, and the kind of politics where rape survivors are given a public voice, is the kind of politics I’ve long dreamed of.

I look forward to the ad and can’t wait to see it.  I only hope that it is well done and actually addresses some of the real concerns of women, survivors, and all who care about them.  Your thoughts?

Sep

26

Yoko Ono: Imagine Peace

Filed Under Gratuitous Beatles Blogging, events and excursions, fun, media, pop culture | 11 Comments

Last week, my husband and I drove down to Lewisburg to see Yoko Ono’s Imagine Peace exhibit.  I have to say that we were hoping the exhibit would be a bit bigger, but it was still great.  My photos from the trip are below.

Captions are below their respective photos.  To see a larger image of any of these — which I recommend — just click on the picture.

This is basically the first thing you’d see when you go into the exhibit, on the wall opposite the entrance.

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Sep

25

Fighting The South Dakota Abortion Ban

Filed Under 2008 election, abortion, activism, anti-choice extremism, events and excursions, legislation, reproductive justice, women’s health | 6 Comments

I will be leaving bright and early tomorrow morning for Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Through Planned Parenthood, I received a scholarship to head out there for a Live Action Camp, where we’ll be fighting Measure 11, the ballot initiative aiming to outlaw abortion in the state.

Sadly, I do not have a laptop. And in any case, it looks like I’ll be moving around a lot so I wouldn’t have much time to live-blog, anyway. Nor would I want a laptop to deal with while canvassing door-to-door. But, I do have a cell phone. You can follow what’s going on this weekend via my Twitter page. I’ll be sending in updates and hopefully even pictures the whole time. There’s a widget in the sidebar that you can scroll through using the little arrows at the bottom, or you can just go directly to the twitter page. And then, of course, I’ll properly blog about the experience when I get back.

See you all soon . . . and enjoy tomorrow’s post on the Yoko Ono exhibit I visited last week.

Sep

25

On The Economic Situation

Filed Under 2008 election, class and economics, fun, politics | 6 Comments

I’m with Jay Smooth.

Vote for the nerd! Vote Obama!

Sep

24

McCain Suspends Campaign

Filed Under 2008 election, class and economics, politics | 5 Comments

Whoa.

What the . . .? Has he totally lost it? Is there some evil-genius ploy in here that I’m just missing and he thinks will somehow win him the election? I have to say that I’ve been asking myself that question a lot with McCain’s campaign. (Until further notice, I will tell myself that he’s convinced he is going to lose the election and wants to be able to say when it’s all said and done that he just lost because he’s so fucking noble.)

Sep

23

It’s Almost Debating Time

Filed Under 2008 election, Democrats, Republicans, media, politics | 9 Comments

This NY Times article on the debates contained some interesting information, and this tidbit in particular got on my nerves:

At the insistence of the McCain campaign, the Oct. 2 debate between the Republican nominee for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin, and her Democratic rival, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., will have shorter question-and-answer segments than those for the presidential nominees, the advisers said. There will also be much less opportunity for free-wheeling, direct exchanges between the running mates.

McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.

Well gee then, McCain campaign, maybe it wasn’t such a great idea to nominate her against someone who is known to be a seasoned and strong debater?

The good news is that I think regardless of the format, Biden is going to verbally kick her ass.

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Sep

22

Judge Bars Woman From Having Children

Filed Under courts, parenthood, patriarchy, pregnancy, reproductive justice | 32 Comments

A Texas judge has set the conditions of a woman’s probation to include that she not have children.

The order was for Felicia Salazar, 20, who admitted to failing to provide protection and medical care to her then-19-month-old daughter last year. The girl suffered broken bones and other injuries when she was beaten by her father, Roberto Alvarado, 25, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Alvarado and Salazar relinquished their parental rights, and the child, who has recovered, was placed in foster care.

On Sept. 5, state District Judge Charlie Baird sentenced Salazar, who had no criminal history, to 10 years of probation after she reached a plea bargain with prosecutors. In Texas, judges set conditions of probation. In addition to requiring Salazar to perform 100 hours of community service and to undergo a mental health assessment and setting other typical conditions, Baird told Salazar not to have any more children.

In an interview Wednesday, Baird said Texas law gives judges the discretion to set any conditions of probation deemed reasonable. He also said that neither Salazar nor her lawyer, Kent Anschutz, objected.

“When you look her background, the circumstances of this case,” he said, “a reasonable condition of her probation was that she not conceive or bear any children.”

Anschutz said he is considering his options on behalf of Salazar. He described her as concerned about Baird’s order.

“Although I fully understand the sentiment and perspective of the judge in this matter, I question the enforceability of that particular condition,” he said.

The first thing I notice here is that this is yet another case of a woman being punished for failing to stand up to the actions of an abusive man. While it’s possible that Salazar is a sadist who enjoys the torture of children as much as the child’s father, it’s just as likely if not more so that the child’s father was also abusive to her and/or she was afraid of him.

But I’m going to set that aside. Why? Because it’s not about how sympathetic the woman in question is. It’s about whether or not this is constitutional, and whether or not it is a violation of this woman’s inalienable rights.

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Sep

20

IMPORTANT: Time To Send Your Comments To HHS Is Running Out

Filed Under abortion, action alert, anti-choice extremism, class and economics, media, religious fanaticism, reproductive justice, women’s health | 2 Comments

I have previously written about the dangerous proposed Department of Health and Human Services rule that would endanger women’s access to reproductive health care. The rule, if instated, would allow health care workers to prevent women from knowing all of their health care options, including those regarding birth control — and would call government-funded providers “discriminatory” for refusing to hire such people, thus removing their funding.

The comment period for the proposed rule closes on September 25th.

If you have not already sent in your comments in opposition to the proposed HHS rule, please do so now. And get any/all of your pro-choice friends to do the same. Time is running out!

As of September 17th, 25,000 people had submitted comments to HHS through Planned Parenthood’s form. Thousands of others have sent in comments in opposition to the rule via other organization’s websites, or the direct email address consciencecomment@hhs.gov. But more comments are desperately needed before the deadline.

Again, send yours now.

To learn more about the proposed rule, you can visit Planned Parenthood’s fact sheet, or this Op Ed by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards, which appeared in yesterday’s NY Times.

Sep

17

Away

Filed Under personal and self-promotion | 3 Comments

I lost internet on Monday and have been having the world’s worst time getting it back.  And I will be out of town on both Thursday and Friday.  I hoped to have those long-promised Yoko Ono posts ready to go up while I was away . . . but then a my ilfe started sucking.  So, there you go.

Please, please keep your fingers crossed for me that I will have internet access by the time I get back?  Otherwise, I just might lose my mind entirely.

Sep

16

More Action For Troy Davis

Filed Under action alert, courts, human rights, race and racism | 6 Comments

Last week I wrote about the case of Troy Davis, a man who is scheduled to be executed by the state of Georgia on September 23rd, despite ample doubt regarding his guilt in the crime of murdering Police Officer Mark MacPhail. I asked you, along with numerous social justice organizations, to call the George State Board of Pardons and Paroles and ask for clemency or commutation of Davis’ sentence. You did, and our calls jammed the phones. But that same day, the Board inexplicably denied clemency and agreed that the state should go forward with his execution.

Amnesty International is now pleading for letters and emails to be sent to the Board of Pardons and Paroles. The Board, though they are not scheduled to meet on the matter again, can do so. They still have the right and capability to decide that Davis will not be put to death.

I know that there are some out there who believe that Troy Davis is guilty of murdering Officer MacPhail. In reading about this case, I have seen a lot of people get caught up in questions of guilt and innocence. Many seem to think, perhaps naturally, that this is the point.

But Davis’ actual guilt or innocence is not the point. For all I know, Davis may be guilty. It is my personal opinion that he’s innocent. But I could be wrong. I don’t know; I wasn’t there. But we do know that of the people who were there and who testified in Davis’ case, seven of nine have recanted. Several have signed statements that they were intimidated into their testimony by police. We do know that of the two witness who are remaining, one of them is the other principle suspect in the case, who has been implicated in 9 sworn affidavits. We know that Davis is a black man and MacPhail was a white man, and our country has a long, ugly and racist history of executing innocent black men for crimes (and often imagined crimes) against whites. We know that Davis was convicted not based on physical evidence of any kind, but solely on witness testimony, and now that testimony is no longer reliable.

This isn’t about guilt or innocence, it’s about the cornerstone of our legal system – reasonable doubt. Even if Davis were guilty, his execution on the 23rd of September would be a judicial travesty. I say that not only because of my belief that a government that willfully kills its citizens is not one that can be trusted, and that no government could ever be trusted, no matter what precautions are taken, to only execute the guilty. I say it because this case does not even meet the already shaky requirements that our system has for determining that someone ought to be put to death. Even if Davis were a coldblooded murder – and even if the State Board of Pardons and Paroles believed as much with all of their hearts – the evidence, quite simply, is not there. This case is about us having at least as much evidence of innocence as we do guilt. It’s about the unconscionable act of killing a man when we just don’t know the answer.

Time is running out, so send your email and letter today. I think the language that Amnesty has provided is quite good, but if you have the time to edit and personalize it, I urge you to strongly consider doing so. But sending the letter as it is currently written is better than sending no letter at all. And then, get your friends to do the same.

cross-posted at Feministe

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