Very very curious to see Showtime’s new series Polyamory.
Of course there are so many ways to structure relationships, and of course a reality show about poly folks is going to have to sensationalize it. But after Sister Wives and Big Love I’m excited to see a portrayal of non-traditional relationship structures minus the religion.
So do I have to get Showtime now?
Planned Parenthood rarely endorses a candidate, but they just endorsed Obama today.
With all the nonsense we have been up against in the past few months fighting to support very basic things like birth control, the idea of a Romney presidency is terrifying for sure.
Whether or not you feel jazzed about politics, think Obama has been a let down, or don’t think your vote matters, I personally think it’s important to consider the alternative. These are the moments where it actually matters who the president is. No need to go back into the dark ages on birth control, abortion, and access to basic women’s health care.
Oh North Carolina.
You exhaust me.
I am cynical enough that I wasn’t surprised by the news that North Carolina voted for an amendment to their state constitution to ban same sex marriage. As if their law banning it wasn’t enough. Better make it double secret safe.
If you have to defend it that hard, when do you come to the realization that obviously your opinions are getting a little silly and outdated.
30 states in the nation are so afraid that they gays might ruin the sanctity of their god fearing marriages that they won’t allow consenting adults to do what they damn please.
One day we’ll get it right, but until then, le sigh…
The week in review.
So, this has been an enraging week. On so many levels. I feel like I was so overwhelmed with all the mayhem I couldn’t even bring myself to blog about it every day. So here is the week in review. All of my rage in a quick summary.
We had PETA’s not so surprising ad campaign depicting a vegan boyfriend fucking a girl so good she ends up with a broken neck.
We had the grammys welcoming Chris Brown with open and forgiving arms a mere 3 years after he beat then-girlfriend Rihanna just nights before the grammys.
There was the male dominated birth control hearing, producing the now infamous photo of dudes making crucial contraception decisions.
Let’s not forget Virginia’s new bill that would require women who want and abortion to get an ultrasound.
And finally, we had the charming and quaint declaration of millionaire backer of Rick Santorum that “gals” should just hold an aspirin between their knees as a form of contraception. I had one of those moments thinking that Foster Friess is like your creepy sexist uncle of yours who keeps saying inappropriate shit and you know one day you are just gonna crack and yell at him for being a sexists fuck. Then I realized I actually have that uncle. And he actually said that aspirin thing and old dudes actually think things like that.
Friess is responsible for about 40% of the funds of this super PAC behind Rick Santorum. As if money in politics wasn’t bad enough before, it simply baffles me that super PAC’s ever became acceptable. Can’t we just immediately outlaw shit that insane? Without thinking about it, debating it, or mulling it over? Super PAC’s make it possible for one sexist old man to nearly singlehandedly support one crazy candidate and have it be somehow okay.
I feel like the best option here would just be to embarrass the crap out of the man. “Oh, btdubs, Foster, you could actually still fuck with your knees together. Have you never had sex from behind? Oh, you are totally missing out, you should try it sometime.”
There is never going to be an acceptable contraceptive solution that suggests we all be a little more prudish. So just get the fuck over it. People fuck. They don’t necessarily want babies. This isn’t the 1950’s.
As far as I can tell, this week needs to simply vanish. I mean really.
The one and only moment of sanity in all this madness:
Thank god for constructive comedy.
While I’m not the biggest fan of Penn Jillette, he breaks it down pretty good here.
I have been increasingly frustrated by the right wing “pro-life” religious forces in this country. I understand their imaginary friend wrote a book and that book tells them a bunch of nonsense. I am a firm supporter of their right to think any crazy idea they want. In fact our country was founded on their right to believe that nonsense. Heck, I would even go so far as to fight for their right to believe that foolishness. I think its the American thing to do, fight for everyone’s right to believe anything they want.
However when your imaginary friend tells you to spend your life trying to deny funding to organizations who provide abortions, you are not being American. This country was founded on the freedom FROM religion as much as the freedom of religion. That means you are free to NOT get abortions, you are free NOT to give your money to cancer research, but when you actively work to de-fund these things for others you are imposing your religious views on people who may not share them. Its no different than a Catholic telling you that you are legally prohibited from eating meat on Fridays. It’s not how this country is supposed to work.
Cancer kills roughly half a million men and women every year in this country. There have been roughly 50 million abortions provided legally in this country since 1973, which works out to roughly 1.2 million per year. Roughly 5%-20% of that number were because of risk of health to the fetus or the mother.
Fighting against groups like Planned Parenthood isn’t “pro-life.” If you are really “pro-life” You would also care about the 1 in 2 people who will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, and the 500,000+ of them that die from it every year. I would hope that the “promotion of life” doesn’t end once the baby is born. As such pro-lifers have just as much responsibility to fund cancer diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and research as you do fight abortion providers. All of which are done at places like Planned Parenthood.
It’s a pity that people are unable to understand complex and nuanced issues. They think Planned Parenthood = abortion. Their imaginary friend told them abortion is bad, so they hate Planned Parenthood. The reality of the situation is much more complex. Planned Parenthood also provides birth control (can’t have an abortion if you don’t get pregnant), breast cancer screening, STD tests (HPV causes cervical cancer), and a whole host of other treatments that save lives.
I am not sure one bolsters their “pro-life” credentials by keeping much needed and life saving treatments out of the hands of men and women. It boggles my mind that the major political party in this country that is linked to the pro-life movement, is also the one against HPV vaccines, universal health care, public funding of birth control, and sex education.
What further boggles my mind is that the inspiration for this stance is based on the ramblings of bronze age goat herders that was translated over and over again before undergoing 2000 years of politically based revision, translated a couple more times, and finally spoon fed by the powerful to the weak. We are talking about people who think that human beings can rise from the dead and that virgins can give birth, these are not the kind of people who we should be taking advice from!
The “pro-life” religious right should be regulated to the fringe of this discussion, instead they seem to be at its center. We have a group with a tenuous grip on reality, the constitution, and science trying to dictate what women should do with their own bodies. Any way you slice it they don’t appear to be up to the task of making that decision.