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To harriet and kyle,
Author: Raine    Date: 06/09/2008 12:29:10

"...Racism vs. Sexism Death Match, the futile, angry attempts to decide which one is worse, more pervasive, more evil; which accounts for one candidate's success and the other's struggles. Both are terrible, both are still pervasive -- and both are far less pernicious than they were even a generation ago."
From Joan Walsh, Salon.


This is for the women out there that say they will vote McCain, now that Hillary Clinton has suspended her campaign. It is time to stop threatening to use your precious vote against your own best interest. An LA Times story gives us just a glimspe of what you will get with McCain.
John McCain, after his release as a POW, said only men belong in battle. He stands by his record.

Soon after the Gulf War in 1991, a group of military women pressed Congress to allow female pilots to fly combat missions. But a Vietnam War hero in the Senate, John McCain, pushed back hard.

"The purpose of the military is first to defend this nation's vital security interests throughout the globe and only second to ensure equality," the Arizona Republican argued on the Senate floor, framing the issue in a way that infuriated feminists.
[...]
McCain's aides said only that he stood by his past positions, suggesting that he would resist pressures for change.

In the 1991 debate over women pilots, McCain took a traditionalist stance. "This nation has existed for over 215 years," McCain said. "At no time in the history of our nation have women been in combat roles."
[...]
McCain's long-standing opposition to women in combat has raised questions among his critics about his commitment to women's rights.

Women's groups say he has a weak legislative record on such issues as equal pay and workplace discrimination, and his support has lagged among female voters.

As a lawmaker, critics say, McCain sometimes has had strained relations with women in power. Former Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.), who spearheaded the effort to grant women the right to fly in combat, called McCain a product of a "guy culture."

"He has always had trouble dealing with women as equals," Schroeder said.
[...]
In an interview with Navy public relations officials after his release, McCain said women should never be allowed to enter combat. "Some of the people that might capture them can be pretty mean," he said.
Then there is this regarding his dismissal of equal pay legislation. “They need the education and training, particularly since more and more women are heads of their households, as much or more than anybody else,” McCain said. “And it’s hard for them to leave their families when they don’t have somebody to take care of them. The issue in this legislation was not education, it was about women getting the same pay as their men counterparts for the same job.

The NYT reported the following exchange with a reporter in Iowa in March 2007:
Q: "What about grants for sex education in the United States? Should they include instructions about using contraceptives? Or should it be Bush's policy, which is just abstinence?"
McCain: (Long pause) "Ahhh. I think I support the president's policy."

Q: "So no contraception, no counseling on contraception. Just abstinence. Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?"
McCain: (Long pause) "You've stumped me."
He has said he supports overturning Roe. V Wade. He has called his own wife a vulagarity that shocks the most unshockable of women, he wants to keep you in your place, you know, He has an 83% rating with the Christian Coalition, and still embraces the late Jerry Falwell who, after the attacks of 911, said "I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen." To which, Pat Robertson - who is still very much alive - replied, "Well, I totally concur." Is this what you will vote for? Is this what you worked so hard to achieve?

To all the 'Harriets' of the world... PLEASE don't say you are a feminist and then say you will vote McCain. He is a sexist of the worst kind. He wants to keep the little women in their place. Don't think for one minute that the sexism you feel is worse than anyone else's. Senator Clinton was right, there are 18 million more cracks in that glass ceiling. McCain, I promise, will just replace that glass with shatterproof materials.

Sexism is sexism, yours is no more immoral than anyone else's. We have work to do in this nation regarding BOTH racism and sexism. We need to come together for the party that does ultimately support tearing down walls and shattering glass ceilings.

:peace: and
Raine
 

214 comments (Latest Comment: 06/10/2008 04:16:33 by livingonli)
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Comment by Random on 06/09/2008 12:38:15
McCain scares me..just a little.

Comment by Random on 06/09/2008 12:39:47
P.S.



Love the opening quote.

Smart woman ( I'm assuming it's a woman.)

Comment by m-hadley on 06/09/2008 12:41:00
Mornin' Raine,

Another stormy morning here in Tulsa. I almost e-mailed my old friend (the rabid Hillary supporter) with a partner who are both sure that they will vote for McCain since Hillary didn't get the nomination. But I think I'll wait a while longer, I hope that they both will come around. I can't and won't live in McCain's America Thanks for the great post :D

Cheers,

mfaye

Comment by BobR on 06/09/2008 12:42:36
McCain is such an idiot. He says he's "stumped" when asked if contraceptives prevent the spread of HIV? This is the guy that's going to appoint the Surgeon General and the head of the Dept of Education?



No. Not if I can help it.

Comment by Raine on 06/09/2008 12:54:17
Good morning everyone.



Faye stay safe in those storms would you?



And yeah I thought that quote was pretty intense as well random.

Comment by velveeta jones on 06/09/2008 13:11:17
Great post Raine. To my friends (online and in real life) that have become "bitter" and say they'll vote for McCain.......... I have told them that I will call/write them EVERY SINGLE TIME A SOLDIER DIES IN IRAQ!! Every time!!! I will hold them responsible, because in a way, they will be part of that death.





Comment by BobR on 06/09/2008 13:13:12
Comment by Will in Chicago on 06/09/2008 13:14:36
Good morning, bloggers!!



We had some rough storms this weekend. No damage right by me, but some property near me was damaged by storms and tornadoes.



Raine, an excellent blog entry. Sadly, bigotry is still with us. John McCain has shown great insensitivity to women's issues, and I don't think that any of Clinton's supporters should vote for him. To cast a vote out of spite is unworthy of those who have worked, fought and even died to guarantee all Americans the right to vote.



The UNN Daily Headlines are up. I will be blogging here while adding a few more.

Comment by clintster on 06/09/2008 13:16:16
Yay, Shane-O! That was great!



Comment by starling310 on 06/09/2008 13:21:18
If I had a daughter, I would hope she might be also be inspired by Obama...someone who seems to do the right thing. Just sayin'



:: nailing sheets to the windows :: supposed to be 99 today and I have 16 feet of windows with no curtains. <----- sweat!

Comment by Random on 06/09/2008 13:25:45
Ha...I knew there was a reason i like Bill Moyers.

Comment by HoneyBearKelly on 06/09/2008 13:29:10
Good morning.



You know the man many have been flogging for veepee, Jim Webb, said many of the same things that McCain said about women.



Also Stephie's blog seems to be bloggered.

Comment by clintster on 06/09/2008 13:29:48
Anyone else having trouble with the liveblog? I managed to get a post in, and it's just getting all wonky. 'Course, the trouble happened after I went to look at Steph's photo from the parade, so I wonder if it's interference from her gay ray.

Comment by Will in Chicago on 06/09/2008 13:39:34
SInce we could use some good news, here is some good news about Alaska from TPM Election Central:



Poll: Dems On Track To Winning Major Senate Seat





Comment by Raine on 06/09/2008 13:40:10
:lol: Clintster... I have a message that the server is busy... looks like the site is getting bogged down from the hits.

Comment by Raine on 06/09/2008 13:41:46
Quote by HoneyBearKelly:

Good morning.



You know the man many have been flogging for veepee, Jim Webb, said many of the same things that McCain said about women.



Also Stephie's blog seems to be bloggered.
interesting HBK.



I must admit, I was not aware of that. how was your parade this weekend?



Comment by TriSec on 06/09/2008 13:43:56
Hello??? :grumpyman:





Comment by livingonli on 06/09/2008 13:44:05
Good morning everyone.



It's already 91. It looks like it's going to get hotter today than yesterday but without the slew of thunderstorms we got late yesterday.



And I have a 10:15 doctor's appointment.

Comment by livingonli on 06/09/2008 13:45:37
Quote by Raine:

:lol: Clintster... I have a message that the server is busy... looks like the site is getting bogged down from the hits.


Everyone wants to see those pictures from the Gay Pride Parade. :lol:

Comment by HoneyBearKelly on 06/09/2008 13:46:28
Raine it was hot.



I saw Schumer and Rangel there.





Comment by BobR on 06/09/2008 13:47:43
Quote by HoneyBearKelly:

Good morning.



You know the man many have been flogging for veepee, Jim Webb, said many of the same things that McCain said about women.



Also Stephie's blog seems to be bloggered.


It seems the old gender stereotypes are the last thing to go when a person comes over from the dark side. It's a fine line between chivalry and chauvinism.



Comment by BobR on 06/09/2008 13:50:14
Quote by starling310:

:: nailing sheets to the windows :: supposed to be 99 today and I have 16 feet of windows with no curtains. <----- sweat!


Sounds like us yesterday - it's brutal...



Supposedly a high of 94 today, then thunderstorms, then cooler the rest of the week.

Comment by Raine on 06/09/2008 13:51:01
Quote by HoneyBearKelly:

Raine it was hot.



I saw Schumer and Rangel there.



very cool!



I had signed up to do some volunteer work for our Summerfest this weekend, but it seems as tho it fell thru. The Obama campaign had a drive somewhere else in Atlanta. And hoohaw, it was 97 degrees here yesterday in the shade.



VERY hot weekend.



Comment by livingonli on 06/09/2008 13:53:03
I guess Hannity isn't going to talk about Resko's association with many Republicans and how he was trying to get Karl Rove to go after Patrick Fitzgerald.



Just saying you know.

Comment by wickedpam on 06/09/2008 14:01:46
Morning :hug:

Comment by Scoopster on 06/09/2008 14:01:57
Morning everyone! No, that's not hot coffee today.. no suh! I've traded in for a nice cold bottle of fortified water (in other words, fancy orange drAnk).



I wonder.. am I the only person who doesn't have their A/C in yet? No I'm not trying to torture myself... I just decided I was gonna clean the bejeez out of my pad first and wanted all the dust to fly out the windows (it was a LOTTA dust I tell ya).

Comment by livingonli on 06/09/2008 14:04:01
Good morning Mala. How was the hot weekend in DC?



Going to split for the doctor's appointment. Hope I lost some weight.

Comment by wickedpam on 06/09/2008 14:10:59
Quote by livingonli:

Good morning Mala. How was the hot weekend in DC?



Going to split for the doctor's appointment. Hope I lost some weight.






With Code Red air quality and a heat index over 100 I had to turn on the AC but I don't have it set very low. Stayed in mostly finally switched my fall/winter clothes out for my spring/summer and put stuff in the hotter then hell attic (i gotta get my attic fan fixed.)



Other then that it was a quiet weekend.



Comment by starling310 on 06/09/2008 14:11:51
Quote by Scoopster:

Morning everyone! No, that's not hot coffee today.. no suh! I've traded in for a nice cold bottle of fortified water (in other words, fancy orange drAnk).



I wonder.. am I the only person who doesn't have their A/C in yet? No I'm not trying to torture myself... I just decided I was gonna clean the bejeez out of my pad first and wanted all the dust to fly out the windows (it was a LOTTA dust I tell ya).




I've got Central, but I refuse to turn it on before Summer has officially started!!!

I've got sheets hung in the windows and the ceiling fan is on. Muuuch better.



Comment by velveeta jones on 06/09/2008 14:16:07


:rofl:



:clap:



Oh...... There are still a few actual journalists in America!!!! Everyone, please DIGG this story. Its deserves to be seen!!

Comment by Will in Chicago on 06/09/2008 14:16:49
Why?



http://www.seamarktrust.org.uk/newphotos/File0001.jpg






It's official: Caribbean monk seal is extinct

MSNBC

updated 2:42 p.m. CT, Fri., June. 6, 2008



After five years of futile efforts to find or confirm sightings of any Caribbean monk seals — even just one — the U.S. government on Friday announced that the species is officially extinct and the only seal to vanish due to human causes.



"Humans left the Caribbean monk seal population unsustainable after overhunting them," Kyle Baker, a biologist for the National Marine Fisheries Service, said in a statement. "Unfortunately, this led to their demise and labels the species as the only seal to go extinct from human causes."







This depresses me. Imagine if you will, an artist who has bequeathed incredible paintings to a museum and the curators either willing destroy some of the art or allow it to decay into nothing. This is a thousand times worse, particularly to someone like myself who has religious beliefs and wonders what a Creator thinks of those destroying Creation. If we do not change course soon, we may have a greatly diminished world to give to our descendants who will look on what we have lost with great sorrow.



Rest in peace, Caribbean monk seal. There are some of us who swear that we will try to do better for the rest of life on the planet Earth.

Comment by wickedpam on 06/09/2008 14:17:23
Quote by starling310:

Quote by Scoopster:

Morning everyone! No, that's not hot coffee today.. no suh! I've traded in for a nice cold bottle of fortified water (in other words, fancy orange drAnk).



I wonder.. am I the only person who doesn't have their A/C in yet? No I'm not trying to torture myself... I just decided I was gonna clean the bejeez out of my pad first and wanted all the dust to fly out the windows (it was a LOTTA dust I tell ya).




I've got Central, but I refuse to turn it on before Summer has officially started!!!

I've got sheets hung in the windows and the ceiling fan is on. Muuuch better.







Normal I would not have mine on in June, but this weekend was just out of control heat.



Comment by starling310 on 06/09/2008 14:18:18
Will. :cry:



That is extremely sad.



Comment by TriSec on 06/09/2008 14:18:39
Current readings at KBED (Hanscom Field, Bedford MA)



Partly Cloudy with Haze, 87°F (31°C)

Humidity: 57 %

Wind Speed: NW 6 MPH

Barometer: 29.77" (1009.1 mb )

Dewpoint: 70°F (21°C)

Heat Index: 92°F (33°C)

Visibility: 6.00 mi.





We were out and about yesterday....went for a delightful stroll along the less-polluted River Chuck (this city) out to Auburndale Park (a ginormous playground in Newton). I didn't find it overly oppressive at all. Today might make it to 100º, though. Big Thunder coming tomorrow, but if the 'weathermen' are as accurate as they have been all spring, it'll probably be 50º and fog.







Comment by wickedpam on 06/09/2008 14:18:45
Oh! I we one of the select few? I feel special.

Comment by Will in Chicago on 06/09/2008 14:22:18
Some very good news indeed.



Kennedy expected home today after surgery

Comment by wickedpam on 06/09/2008 14:30:33
Quote by velveeta jones:



:rofl:



:clap:



Oh...... There are still a few actual journalists in America!!!! Everyone, please DIGG this story. Its deserves to be seen!!






Wow! I think Porter was kinda proud that Moyers called him a journalist.



Comment by wickedpam on 06/09/2008 14:35:21
what is "Rick Rolled"?

Comment by wickedpam on 06/09/2008 14:37:08
A Time to Fight: Reclaiming a Fair and Just America by Jim Webb

Comment by Raine on 06/09/2008 14:38:41
Quote by wickedpam:

what is "Rick Rolled"?
here you go, Mala:

RickRoll

Comment by Random on 06/09/2008 14:39:08




Random is back.

Comment by wickedpam on 06/09/2008 14:42:20
I thought Cotton was the fabric of our lives? :scratchhead:

Comment by wickedpam on 06/09/2008 14:45:53
Quote by Raine:

Quote by wickedpam:

what is "Rick Rolled"?
here you go, Mala:

RickRoll






THanks - not sure why this is "funny" though - maybe it's just me :shrug:

Comment by Raine on 06/09/2008 14:54:43
The first Mrs. McCain speaks...



The wife U.S. Republican John McCain callously left behind

For nearly 30 years, Carol has maintained a dignified silence about the accident, McCain and their divorce. But last week at the bungalow where she now lives at Virginia Beach, a faded seaside resort 200 miles south of Washington, she told The Mail on Sunday how McCain divorced her in 1980 and married Cindy, 18 years his junior and the heir to an Arizona brewing fortune, just one month later.

[.....]

H. Ross Perot, a billionaire Texas businessman, future presidential candidate and advocate of prisoners of war, paid for her medical care.

[...]



But friends say privately he was ‘appalled’ by the change in her appearance. At first, though, he was kind, assuring her: ‘I don’t look so good myself. It’s fine.’



He bought her a bungalow near the sea in Florida and another former PoW helped him to build a railing so she could pull herself over the dunes to the water.



‘I thought, of course, we would live happily ever after,’ says Carol. But as a war hero, McCain was moving in ever-more elevated circles.



Through Ross Perot, he met Ronald Reagan, then Governor of California. A sympathetic Nancy Reagan took Carol under her wing.



But already the McCains’ marriage had begun to fray. ‘John started carousing and running around with women,’ said Robert Timberg.



McCain has acknowledged that he had girlfriends during this time, without going into details. Some friends blame his dissatisfaction with Carol, but others give some credence to her theory of a mid-life crisis.



He was also fiercely ambitious, but it was clear he would never become an admiral like his illustrious father and grandfather and his thoughts were turning to politics.







Comment by Raine on 06/09/2008 14:56:37
:wacko: this woman is nutz.

Comment by wickedpam on 06/09/2008 14:57:20
Stop! Breathing! INTO! The! Phone!

Comment by starling310 on 06/09/2008 14:57:45
Greta is right; Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. IT's true.





Comment by Random on 06/09/2008 14:58:45
...I couldn't understand half the things that woman said...

Comment by Raine on 06/09/2008 14:58:49
Quote by wickedpam:

I thought Cotton was the fabric of our lives? :scratchhead:
I said that to bobR when she said that during the speech on friday!!!



Comment by Will in Chicago on 06/09/2008 14:59:32
We should give Greta the credibility she deserves: somewhat less than a person who claims to have witnessed the consummation of a menage a trois between Bill O'Reilly, Geraldo Rivera, and a sasquatch aboard a starship whose Gray alien commander was wearing Mickey Mouse ears, smoking a foot long doobie, and breakdancing.



I'm just saying!