What happened? I feel like I've been abducted by aliens and plunked back down to Earth and now living in a "Twilight Zone" episode. Seriously, is someone playing a practical joke on America? I'm okay with that, really I am........ I've been known to be a bit of a prankster myself as some of the regulars of this blog may well know.

What the heck is the Republican Party doing? I am so confused I don't know whether to yell and scream or to laugh at the absurdity. It seem the Republicans are now, um, "Pro Women". At least, what they're trying to convince us.

Here's why I'm confused: Hillary Clinton is a "bitch" ("How do we beat the bitch") and Michelle Obama is everything from "uppity" to "elitist", even Cindy McCain is a C**t; but hand-off of Sarah Palin! Anything you say against her means you are a (drama sting) SEXIST! Suddenly, Charles Gibson is "condescending". Please! He the same tiresome "journalist" he's always been! Suddenly using her face to photoshop onto a sexy bikini clad model is wrong. Suddenly, anyone who questions her views and opinions, including how she runs her home is treating her differently then we’d treat a man! Seems she's a feminist and I'm a sexist pig for calling her a disgrace to woman-hood.

Curiously, I did not hear the Republicans outrage when that same charge was thrown at Michelle Obama - by the very same Republicans! (Rush, for example).

So, let me get this straight. The party that was against Civil Rights, and often still conflicted by Civil Rights, and the same party that is adamantly against the Equal Right Amendment - still not passed to this day - is crying............. "Sexism".

That heavy wind is being caused by all the deceased Republicans like Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon - spinning in their graves.

Lets go back a few years, shall we? Equality for women has been a long struggle. Recorded as early as 1776 when Abigail Adams wrote to her husband John, "In the new code of laws, remember the ladies and do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands." John Adams replied, "I cannot but laugh. Depend upon it, we know better than to repeal our masculine systems." (From Alice S. Rossi, The Feminist Papers: From Adams to de Beauvoir).

In 1776, The new Constitution’s promised rights were enjoyed only by free white males. Women remained treated as chattel for the most part and were denied most legal rights. In general they could not vote, own property, keep their own wages, or even have custody of their children.

While many brave women, known and unknown, struggled for equity, full rights were put on hold while the fight to pass the 19th Amendment and the right to vote was fought and succeeded on August 26, 1920.

Since 1923 the Equal Rights Amendment was introduced to each session of Congress until 1972 when it was, after re-wording, finally passed as the 27th Amendment. However, Congress placed a seven-year deadline on the ratification process. This time limit was placed not in the words of the Amendment itself, but in the proposing clause.

Now, following the Depression, both the Democrats and Republicans supported passage of Equal Rights and made it part of their platform. So what happened to the Party of Lincoln , as they like to often remind us?

Ah, that would be one Ronald Reagan along with the Conservative Christians getting their feet wet in politics. During the late 70’s when the time limit was quickly running out for passage of the 27th, the Conservatives found a great friendship with the likes of Jerry Falwell who once said “if the ERA is passed, Lesbians will rule America”. I sat in my car one day listening to his “Old Time Gospel Hour” on the AM radio and heard him say this with my very ears. Frankly, at the time, I thought that might be a grand idea, but then, I was very young.

Of course there were numerous women who jumped into the fray, like Phyllis Schlafly, leader of the Eagle Forum, who played on the fears of what might happen if the ERA was passed; women forced into combat, and privacy rights overturned. Of course women can go into combat today and privacy rights are practically non-existent.

And, ultimately, the ERA was linked to the Gay Rights movement which got the Christian Fundamentalists even more tight-assed. Here’s how they came to that conclusion: Women Rights = Feminist. Feminist = Hater of Men. Man Hater = (what else) Lesbian! Tada!

In 1980 the Republican Party removed ERA support from its platform, and Ronald Reagan was elected president. In 1982 the extension for the ratification died. The Right-Wing Conservatives won.

The Amendment continues to be re-introduced to each session of Congress. Success in putting the ERA into the Constitution via this process would require passage by a two-thirds in each house of Congress and ratification by 38 states. I know we cannot count on Ms (or is she Mrs.) Palin’s State to pass it, but can we now count on Mr. “Equality” McCain? Come on John, give us the word. Show your support! Hey, maybe its not too late to get your name attached to a Senate Resolution!

Here’s more dichotomies from the ridiculously out of touch Right: Republican Senator Dole and other Republicans want to make sure that the Iraqi Constitution has, um, Woman’s Rights put in it! Good Grief. I am so confused. Fighting for women’s rights in Iraq but not at home?