Kremer Renews War On Women

Wisconsin State Representative Jesse Kremer (R-Underneath a rock) wants everyone to know that he is not prejudiced or a bigot - he hates everyone equally.

Last year, Kremer surfaced when he came up with the utterly insane and inane idea of shaming the poor by requiring them to use a photo ID when they bought anything with an EBT card.

This year, Kremer crawled out from from under his rock to wage war on transgender kids. He followed this up by doing some whitesplaining to a African American colleague.

Now, this time Kremer has slithered out and decided to do something about those uppity women and all their rights.

Kremer is proposing a law that would require doctors to tell women who want the abortion pill about an injection that could reverse the abortion, even though there's no proof and it could actually harm the woman:

Rep. Jesse Kremer, R-Kewaskum, said this week he plans to introduce a bill next legislative session that will require doctors to tell patients who request an abortion pill that getting injections of progesterone could reverse the effects of the pill and direct them to websites such as abortionpillreversal.com, which is owned by a San Diego-based anti-abortion rights doctor George Delgado.

But the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has warned no scientific evidence exists to support such a process and it could be dangerous to women who seek the injections.

"This approach is not recommended in ACOG’s clinical guidance on medication abortion," said guidelines the group released to its members in 2015 in response to similar legislation in Arizona. The group also noted that while progesterone is generally well-tolerated, it could cause "significant cardiovascular, nervous system and endocrine adverse reactions as well as other side effects."

Let me repeat this - Kremer wants women to be told about an anti-abortion website and an injection that could do serious harm to them. For what purpose? I dunno.

Republicans might consider Kremer to be a rising star but they need to remember that what goes up always comes down. And with dolts like Kremer, it's usually hard and on their face.

WI Republicans Throw Walker's Campaign A (Pro-) Life Preserver

As Scott Walker nears the time that he lets the cat out of the cellophane bag and formally announces his presidential bid, he has to take care of an image problem he has with conservative Christians. They are less than enthused with his wimpy stances regarding gay marriage and abortion:

So even though Walker has said he'd rather not get sidetracked with discussions on the divisive issues, Christian leaders want him to talk about it and openly.

"He cannot campaign in Iowa and South Carolina and not talk about the issues of life and marriage," Penny Nance, who leads the conservative Concerned Women for America group, told Politico. "And even if it appears that he's not talking about it, he's done," she added.

Wisconsin Republican legislators are riding to the rescue and are fast-tracking a bill which would ban abortions after the 20th week, even in cases of rape or incest:

State Republicans are looking to fast-track a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks, potentially bringing the proposal to a vote before the Legislature begins debate on the state budget in June.

State Senate President Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) told the WisconsinEye Public Affairs Network last week that she hopes to see a vote on the proposal, which has more than 30 co-sponsors, as soon as possible.

"As soon as we can do the logistics of sorting out committee meetings and getting those things done, we will be proceeding," Lazich said.

As Senate president, Lazich assigns bills to committees and sits on the panel that decides which bills will come to a floor vote. Lazich is a lead sponsor of the bill.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who is preparing a likely run for the presidency, said in March he would sign the measure if it came to his desk.

The bill includes penalties of up to $10,000 and 31/2 years in jail for anyone who is convicted of performing an abortion after 20 weeks, when Lazich said research shows a fetus begins to feel pain. Opponents of the bill dispute that, saying the scientific community does not believe fetuses can feel pain at that stage of development.

Even though similar laws have been stopped in other states and the senate president admits that she doesn't know whether this bill would stand to a court challenge, they're still planning on suppressing more women's rights for the political aspirations of Walker.

What's the rights of people or the squandering of tax dollars compared to the chance for Walker to show he's as depraved conservative as any of the other presidential wannabes, even if he doesn't necessarily mean it?

Scott Walker Caught Trying To Rob Family-Planning Clinics

It's no deep dark secret that Scott Walker will pander to any special interest group that might support him, including the right to life groups. Hence, Walker will do whatever he can do - whether or not it's legal or ethical - to prevent women from getting basic health care and to have the right to make decisions regarding their own bodies.

He already had one of his schemes broken up when it turned out that his attempt to limit women's access to family-planning clinics was found to be unconstitutional.

Now, he's been found to have his hand in the money till of these clinics, falsely accusing them of overbilling for their services. That amount was found to be off by at least 93%:

Last August, a Wisconsin state agency told two family-planning organizations that they owed a total of $3.5 million because they had overbilled Medicaid programs for prescription drugs and certain services.

Last week, the agency — the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Health Services — lowered the amount by more than $3.2 million.

The two family-planning organizations — NEWCAP Community Health Services and Family Planning Health Services — were told of the change in letters from Alan White, the inspector general. Yet the letters raise more questions than they answer, not the least being how the state could have been off by 93% — and maybe more, given that at least one of the organizations plans to challenge the remaining claims.

[...]

The dispute stemmed largely from conflicting interpretations of how the state reimburses family-planning clinics for contraceptives.

The state contended the clinics — which can buy the drugs at a discount under a federal program — should bill Medicaid for the actual purchase price plus a dispensing fee.

The clinics countered that they were billing the state properly under published rates that allowed a markup to offset operating costs.

"You don't get to dictate to Medicaid or the state what they pay you," said Jennifer Waloway, a nurse practitioner and director of community health services for NEWCAP Community Health Services in Oconto.

The organization, which runs clinics in six counties in northeastern Wisconsin, initially was told that it owed the state $1,169,837.10, based on audits conducted for 2010 and 2011. That is slightly less than its annual revenue of $1.2 million.

The Office of Inspector General now contends NEWCAP owes $185,074.80, which the organization still plans to challenge.

Family Planning Health Services, which operates 11 clinics in north-central Wisconsin, was told initially it owed $2,324,750.73.

That's been reduced to $44,706.83.

Other organizations that provide reproductive health services in the state also have contended that they were paid for contraceptives and other prescription drugs at a rate agreed upon and set by the Department of Health Services in 2009.

"This isn't just us," Waloway said. "This is the whole family-planning network."

Walker backing off of his false claims have raised other questions which can only be explained as lying to cover up his malfeasance:

Although White reduced the amount the state is seeking to recover from the two organizations, the letter left numerous unanswered questions.

Some examples:

■White wrote that his office became aware from the clinics' response that "employees of this department had given verbal instructions to a small subset" of providers on billing for prescription drugs.

But Diane Welsh, a lawyer with von Briesen & Roper s.c., who represents the family-planning clinics, said the reimbursement rates were published and were consistent with what the clinics were paid.

In an email, the Department of Health Services disputed that.

But the department would not comment on why it would reduce the amount of the clinics' alleged overbilling on the basis of "verbal instructions" given five years earlier.

■White wrote that his office "discovered" a Medicaid update issued in February 2009 that set a new reimbursement rate for contraceptive pills dispensed by family planning clinics.

Waloway said her organization gave that update to the Office of Inspector General when it was doing the audit.

■White wrote that the update "created confusion for some family-planning clinics."

The clinics were reimbursed at a published rate, Welsh said. "How confusing is that?" she asked.

White's contention particularly irked Waloway.

"We are not confused," she said. "We are following instructions of DHS (the Department of Health Services). Every family clinic was billing the same way we are."

The article notes that a director of one of the clinics Walker tried to rip off and force into bankruptcy was miffed because they got no apology from Walker's administration. I would advise her, based on my professional and personal experience, that she not hold her breath waiting for Walker to do the right thing.

The Only Time Walker Appreciates Women

By now, the gentle reader knows how poorly Scott Walker and his Teapublican buddies view women.

In two and a half years, they have launched multiple attacks on women, setting the state back 50+ years.

They have repealed the equal pay act, saying women aren't worth as men. They have also made it harder for women to even be treated as an equal at the job site.

They have repeatedly limited a woman's ability to get the medical attention she needs, much less allow her to make her own health care decisions.

They have made it harder for women to vote. They have made it harder to remain safe.  They have made it harder for women to find safety, especially if they are in an abusive relationship.

The list goes on and on about the myriad of ways that Walker and the Teapublicans have maltreated women in our state.

But now we find that there is one way that they have learned to appreciate the heck out of women - to cover up their illegal campaign donations.

Michael Buelow of the Big Money Blog points out numerous examples where people have donated more money than legally allowed.  To compensate for this, the perpetrators would change their donation, cutting it in two.  They would keep one part of the donation in their own name.   The other part would go in their wives' names, presumably with their permission.

Buelow finishes with this comparison, which shows the egregiousness of it all:

As strange – and unfair – as this may sound to casual readers who don’t follow campaign finance, Walker and other legislative and statewide officeholders and candidates have done this numerous times over the years.

Unfortunately, it’s usually allowed because the former state Elections Board and now the GAB decided that many of these donations can be split or readjusted after the fact because the state’s marital property law.

Kind of like telling the cop who stops you for speeding that you want half the fine and the points assigned to your spouse’s driving record because you both own the car.

Yeah, I bet that would work.

And here I thought the Teapublicans thought women were only good for extramarital affairs.

It's Time For Women To Stand Up

Planned Parenthood is striking back against the barrage of attacks they have had to endure during the past two years.  Their target is State Senator Mike Ellis, one of the most misogynistic idiots in the state:



From their press release announcing this ad:

Today, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin launched the first phase of an ad campaign highlighting Senate President Mike Ellis and his abysmal record on restricting access to women’s health care. The ad features the public debate in the State Senate earlier this summer around a bill (SB 206) that was quickly passed to restrict women’s access to safe and legal abortion. The ad campaign comes on the heels of a successful rally earlier this week that gathered hundreds of people from across the state to call on their legislative leaders to stop the attack on women’s health and rights. The media campaign targets the Senate President Mike Ellis because he has used his power to shut down debate and facilitate the quick passage of an unprecedented number of bills that restrict women’s healthcare access and rights. Since the start of his reign as Senate President, Senator Ellis has facilitated the passage of many bills that include:

• 2011 Act 32: State Budget that ended funding at Planned Parenthood for patients receiving cancer screenings, wellness exams and birth control resulting in the closure of four rural Health Centers,
• 2013 Act 20: State Budget which cut thousands of hardworking Wisconsin citizens from Badgercare,
• 2011 Act 219: which repealed equal pay protections for women
• 2011 Act 216: which repealed medically accurate age appropriate sex education guidelines for our youth to reduce the incidence of teen pregnancy and the spread of STD’s
• 2013 Act 37: to restrict women’s access to safe and legal abortion by adding unnecessary regulations for doctors providing abortion and additional requirements for women seeking this medical care.

“Senate President Ellis has shown himself to be a career politician who doesn’t listen to his constituents and consistently votes against women’s ability to access essential healthcare,” said Tanya Atkinson Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin.

In Wisconsin right now, women are struggling more than ever before when it comes to getting health care. Over the last three years, Governor Scott Walker and the Legislature’s Republican leadership have introduced, moved and passed over a dozen bills restricting women’s access to everything from equal pay protections, health insurance coverage, sex education and birth control to abortion. Because of these laws women’s health will suffer. Our health care costs will increase. There will be more undiagnosed cancers, sexually transmitted disease, unintended pregnancies, delayed prenatal care and yes, more abortions. Walker and the Republican majority are playing politics with women’s health and reversing decades of bipartisan progress.

“Wisconsin voters who value commonsense, quality women’s health care have voices that matter,” concluded Atkinson. “It is up to us to insist that our leaders protect our health and wellbeing and stop this assault on women’s access to health care.”

As part of this campaign Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin will be educating our supporters to make sure they are aware of the dangerous bills that have already been passed restricting women’s access to healthcare and the danger of even more policies will have on the health and safety of women, families and Wisconsin communities.

“Through this campaign we will remind community members that we can prevail in protecting women’s health and rights, but only if we remain engaged and hold our elected leaders accountable and call on them to represent our best interests as a state.”

Binders Of Women

So that's what Mitt Rmoney meant...

Who is afraid of Emerge Wisconsin?

From the inbox comes this press release by Wendy Strout, Executive Director of Emerge Wisconsin:

Emerge Wisconsin recently learned they were the subject of an open records request by the Republican Party of Wisconsin. The request appeared to be targeting the Emerge Wisconsin Alumnae. There are currently eight Emerge women who are serving in the state legislature: Representatives Penny Bernard Schaber‘07, Jill Billings‘11, Dianne Hesselbein‘09, La Tonya Johnson‘12, Melissa Sargent‘12, Mandy Wright‘12, JoCasta Zamarripa’10, and Senator Nikiya Harris‘11.

“It is interesting that the GOP are targeting Emerge Wisconsin, an organization focused on training Democratic women to run for office,” states Wendy Strout, Emerge Wisconsin Executive Director. “Since they have a history of attacking women’s rights, it was only a matter of time before they started attacking women’s ability to run for office. 

Emerge Wisconsin recently graduated their seventh class of Democratic women ready to run for elected office. The goal of Emerge is to increase the number of Democratic women in office. They do this by inspiring women to run and honing their skills to win. Emerge is also traveling the state providing a “Taste” of their trainings in counties like Brown, Door, and St. Croix. 

Since 2007, Emerge has been the premier training program for Democratic women in Wisconsin. Emerge recruits and trains women from across the state to run for office on a local, state, and national level and provides them with the tools and network support needed to succeed in the world of politics. Emerge graduates have gone on to win races ranging from Village Trustee to State Senate. Nationally, Emerge has expanded to thirteen states to train the next generation of female Democratic leaders across the country. Emerge is located in Arizona, California, Colorado, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Virginia and Wisconsin

This attack by WISGOP was undoubtedly spurred by this article touting the success of Emerge Wisconsin in getting women elected:

“In many ways running a campaign is like starting a small business,” Wright said. “Emerge really helped me organize the campaign. You have to be pretty motived, and Emerge really helped me with that. The networking is also helpful. There were 30 of us in class and 10 that ran for Assembly or Senate, so we kept in touch. It was really, really helpful to hear, ‘I ran into this problem and this is how I problem-solved it’.”

“We have women all across the state in all levels of office,” said Wendy Strout, executive director of Emerge Wisconsin.

The Emerge program began in California and now is one of 13 states with Emerge programs. Emerge Wisconsin has been in operation since 2007. Since then 56 percent of the graduates have run for public office and 59 percent have run successful campaigns.

“Women across the country are not happy with what’s going on. They are looking for a way to make a change. So you’re going to see women across the country getting more active,” Strout said. “Our goal is to continue increasing the number of Democratic women at all levels of government. We are nowhere near 50 percent of elected officials, yet women are 50 percent of the population, or 51 percent of the population in some places.”

The reporter, as any good reporter would do, contacted WISGOP to get a statement from them. As one might expect, it showed just how out of touch they are with women and women's issues:

Of course, Republicans also want to provide more opportunities for female candidates. Jesse Dougherty, press secretary
 of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, said Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefish is leading the charge to bring more Republican women into public office.

“We are holding training sessions across the state and women are a major aspect of that training,” Dougherty said. “Women will have a strong voice in our party.”

Obviously, what woman wouldn't want to be involved with a party who wants to keep their pay substantially lower than men's and wants to have a doctor sexually assault them with a ultrasound wand? The only things that the Republicans haven't done - yet - is pass a law that women must remain pregnant and barefoot in the kitchen.

But as they say, haters are going to hate. And there is not a more hateful group than the Teapublicans and one of the things they hate most are strong women who will stand up for themselves.


For the purpose of full disclosure, I do work for Emerge Wisconsin and am damn proud of it. However, this post is not to be in any construed as anything but coming from me.

WISGOP Fears Emerge*

From the Facebook page of State Representative Melissa Sargent, we find that WISGOP is mightily afraid of Emerge Wisconsin.

They have sent this Open Records Request to the elected Emerge Wisconsin alumnae:

I think Sargent said it best:

The GOP must be terrified of women who want their voices heard at all levels of government. 

Of course, the GOP has reason to fear.  With their refusal to allow pay equality, to allow equal rights, their rape culture "humor" and their punitive approach to women's health care, including the ultrasound bill, they have repeatedly crossed the line of acceptability.

*See what I did there?!

For the interest of full disclosure, I do work for Emerge WI, and am damn proud of it.

Special Sessions Blues

A slightly NSFW remix of Schoolhouse Rock's "I'm Just A Bill":



Are you awake yet?

Hours Against Hate

From the inbox:

MILWAUKEE COUNTY BOARD CHAIRWOMAN MARINA DIMITRIJEVIC JOINS “HOURS AGAINST HATE” CAMPAIGN
Pledge-Signing Event Slated for July 11 at 9to5 Offices

(MILWAUKEE) – Milwaukee County Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic will join a global initiative to help promote respect across lines of culture, religion, tradition, class, sexual orientation and gender by participating in the Hours Against Hate campaign. The organization’s goal is to recruit five hundred individuals to commit one hour toward fighting bigotry.

Dimitrijevic will sign the pledge July 11 and work the phones for 9to5 to promote a July 17 “Know Your Rights” training session and the community canvass 9to5 will sponsor on July 13.

“Wage discrimination is unacceptable, and it is a form of discrimination against all women,” Dimitrijevic said. “Joining Hours Against Hate and 9to5 in fighting discrimination is one way we can help to end the injustice of wage theft and bias against women. Discrimination against women is a form of hate, and we must fight to end it.”

Conceived from a Facebook campaign started by the U.S. Department of State in 2011, the message of Hours Against Hate is simple in its power: Pledge support of those who don’t look like you, pray like you, love like you or live like you.

“We ask everyone who is outraged by hate to pledge an hour to help end it,” Dimitrijevic said. “We won’t tell you how to spend your hour. We simply ask that you take action.”

Chantia Lewis, a grassroots member of 9to5 and mother of two, said pay discrimination is pervasive in the US and in Wisconsin. 9to5 is one of the largest, most respected national membership organizations of working women in the U.S., dedicated to putting working women’s issues on the public agenda. 

“Women earned 77 cents for every dollar earned by men, and the gap for women of color is even greater.” Lewis said, "As working women, we need to know our rights, demand fair treatment, and support one another in standing up for equality."

Elana Kahn, director of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation’s Jewish Community Relations Council, said Hours Against Hate is one small way in which hatred can be defeated. The mission of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation is to ensure the continuity of the Jewish people, to enhance the quality of Jewish life and to build a strong unified Jewish community in Milwaukee, in Israel and throughout the world. The Jewish Federation is sponsor of the program.

“This is a program that engages everyone,” Kahn said. “We want to build a stronger, more tolerant world, and Hours Against Hate is one way with which we can help increase understanding of those who are different from ourselves.”

Individuals can join the campaign at www.hoursagainsthate.org.

A kick-off event, which is open to all members of the community, will take place at 2:30 p.m. on July 11 at the 9to5 headquarters, 207 E. Buffalo St., Suite 211. Chairwoman Dimitrijevic will be joined at the event by Kahn of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation and Vickers of 9to5.

Chairwoman Dimitrijevic is the youngest woman in history to serve as Board Chair and only the second woman to serve in that role. She also has the distinction of being the youngest woman ever elected County Supervisor when she was first elected in 2004.

It is my understanding that Emperor Chris Abele felt that this was a political stunt against him. He then admitted that he also believed that the universe rotated around him.

Planned Parenthood To Take Walker To Court

Hot from the inbox:

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin: We Are Going to Court to Protect Our Patients
Federal Lawsuit to be Filed Challenging Wisconsin Hospital Staff Privileges Requirement in SB 206

MADISON- WI — To protect women’s health and access to safe and legal abortion in Wisconsin, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin announced today that they will be challenging SB 206 in federal court as soon as the Governor signs it into law. On Wednesday, the Governor requested SB 206 - a fast tracked bill that was passed in less than 1 week - indicating his intent to sign the bill into law within the next few days. SB 206 will jeopardize women’s health by shutting down two abortion health centers and decreasing capacity by at least 50% in one of the two remaining abortion health centers in Wisconsin. Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, represented by Cullen Weston Pines & Bach and attorneys at Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Affiliated Medical Services represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, will be filing suit in federal court to block Senate Bill 206, which requires abortion providers to have staff admitting privileges at a local hospital. PPWI is asking the federal district court in the Western District of Wisconsin to immediately enjoin SB 206 which will significantly reduce abortion access in Wisconsin in violation of the federal Constitution. SB 206 violates both the due process rights under the Federal Constitution of both PPWI and its patients.

“We are going to court to protect a woman’s ability to make her own personal, private health care decisions,” said Teri Huyck, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. “For 78 years, Planned Parenthood health centers in Wisconsin have provided high-quality, nonjudgmental health care to women. Abortion is a deeply personal and often complex decision, but ultimately a decision that a woman should make — politics should not interfere.”

“We are confident that the Court will recognize that women in Wisconsin, including victims of rape and incest, will be restricted from accessing safe and legal abortion,” continued Huyck. “Senate Bill 206 is one part of the legislative majority’s goal to end abortion access in Wisconsin. Unfortunately, you do not need to overturn Roe vs. Wade to make abortion inaccessible. When abortion is inaccessible women’s health suffers and women die. It is critical that women still maintain access. This is why we are filing suit- for our patients, future patients and all of the women of Wisconsin. Women should be trusted and allowed to make their own health care decisions.”

Medical experts across the country oppose bills like Wisconsin Senate Bill 206 including the Wisconsin Medical Society and the Wisconsin Hospital Association. In fact, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), opposes laws or other regulations that require abortion providers to have hospital staff privileges.

“Requiring doctors who provide abortions to have staff privileges at a nearby hospital won’t make women safer and, in fact, could jeopardize their health by depriving women in Wisconsin access to safe, high-quality health care,” said Dr. Broekhuizen Medical Director for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. “Legal abortion is extremely safe. In fact, it is one of the safest medical procedures in the United States. Abortion complications are rare, but those that do occur are usually handled in the health center that provided the abortion. In the exceedingly rare event that a complication after an abortion requires hospital-based care, a woman would be provided emergency care at a hospital, and staff privileges at that hospital have no impact on a woman’s ability to receive high quality, timely care.”

In recent years, opponents of safe and legal abortion have been pushing for hospital privileges requirements that apply only to physicians who provide safe and legal abortion as part of a national strategy to limit a woman’s access to abortion. Admitting privileges are not an indication of quality of the physician. It is common hospital practice to grant only privileges to physicians who admit a minimum number of patients and the process itself can take 3 to 6 months.

Moreover, admitting privileges do not hasten a patient’s care in the event of an emergency. If a patient requires emergency care, an ambulance would be called and a patient would be taken to the closest emergency room and if necessary admitted for care by an appropriate physician at that hospital.

All I can say is "Go get'em!"

Nina Turner: Another Shero Emerges

Last week, Texas Senator Wendy Davis became a household name and a national hero when she went eleven hours doing a filibuster on a radical, sweeping anti-women's rights bill.  During that time, she could not eat, drink, use the bathroom, sit or even lean on the table.

Because of Davis, people are becoming more aware of other sheroes around the nation.

One such woman is Ohio State Senator Nina Turner.

Turner first started making waves at the end of last year when she rebranded the GOP acronym and made it into a women's right slogan:

Turner has again made headlines with her fight fire with fire attitude, introducing the Viagra Bill:

"We should show the same attention and love to men's reproductive health as we do to women's," Turner told HuffPost. "And my bill does that."

Specifically, Turner's bill would require men to receive psychological counseling to verify that they have a medical reason for taking erectile dysfunction medications, such as Viagra, before they can legally obtain a prescription for it. It would also require doctors to inform men, in writing, about the potential risks of drugs like Viagra.

The bill borrows language directly from Ohio's controversial "heartbeat bill," which bans abortions after the fetal heartbeat can be detected -- often before a woman even knows she's pregnant. But Turner said her bill is not just an answer to the heartbeat bill; she has been outraged by number of bills and amendments over the past couple of years, including one recently proposed to ban physician assistants from placing or removing intrauterine devices (known as IUDs), a common form of birth control, based on the Republican sponsor's moral opposition to that method of contraception.

"We need to fight fire with fire," Turner said.

Do read the whole article, it lists example of women who are as mad as hell and aren't going to take it anymore.

The Republicans have taken on more than they bargained for with their misogynistic, racist and elitist power grabs. What they should be grabbing is their water wings, even though I doubt it will do them much good in the face of the tsunamis of righteous anger and indignation coming at them from all directions.

Rick Perry's Position On Life

After the successful and heroic filibuster by Texas Senator Wendy Davis, corporate puppet Governor Rick Perry showed himself to be true boor:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Yeah, this is coming from a guy that just killed a woman, the 500th such killing in Texas since the reinstatement of the death penalty. This is also the guy that approves of killing juveniles and mentally disabled people, you know, because every life matters.

You can't even say that Perry is pro-fetus because he is refusing the Medicaid expansion that would help poor pregnant women that have chosen to keep their babies.

This is all about power and control, just like rape.

Support The Wisconsin Women's Legal Defense Fund

From the inbox:

We are an ad hoc coalition of women and our allies. We are men and women, youthful and seasoned, diverse and mufti-cultural, from organizations and from neighborhoods. We seek to re-frame the debate on "women's issues" and we're seeking your participation to help drive the conversation.

This is the official page from the grassroots movement that led to a rally in Madison on Thursday, June 20th, 2013. After the rally, we delivered bloody coat hangers to the most vocal elected officials on this legislation. Following the deliveries, protesters took the floor of the senate where senators were in session debating the budget. Eight protesters were arrested and this page is to raise funds for their tickets and future activities in this movement. 

Footage from the Rachel Maddow show show's the effect we had on the debate in the Senate:http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/vp/52280296#52280296 But now we have to keep the pressure up. We need to ensure that the Governor doesn't sign this invasive bill into law. Enough is enough. We will not be violated by our government. We will regain control of our bodies. We will join with other women across the state and country to let our government know that they can not control us and we will not go down without a fight. We need to remind politicians in Madison, that they work for us. That their job is to listen to the people of this state. We also don't have it all figured out yet, so we ask that you are patient. Please like our page on Facebook to stay informed with the latest information. We need work as strategically and intentionally as possible. Thank you for your contribution to this truly grassroots movement. 


Interested in a shirt? Please donate $10 or above and then click on "contact" in upper right corner to send your contact information on how we can get it to you. Please also include your color choice (pink, red or grey) and size.


http://host.madison.com/news/local/writers/jessica_vanegeren/group-tries-to-storm-senate-to-protest-ultrasound-bill/article_85700bf1-f30e-5020-bdbe-86d4eba2f94b.html

You can find their donation site by clicking here.

Shame on Rep Steve Kestell

During the Republican's all out assault on women's rights last week, Rep. Steve Kestell (R-3rd Grade) made a rather insulting comment.

Jenni Dye, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin, did a much better and more appropriate response to Kestell's adolesence than I would or could:

NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin Condemns Representative Kestell’s Insensitive Comments
Abortion Bans and Sex Selective Abortions Are No Laughing Matter

Madison, WI – NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin condemned the Assembly’s passage of AB 217 and its author’s insensitive and outrageous comments during discussion of AB 217. The bill would create a cause of action to allow abortion providers to be sued by the mother, father or grandparents for providing a sex selective abortion and places the penalty for a sex selective abortion solely on providers.

In committee, the proposal’s author, Representative Steve Kestell made light of the abortion ban, commenting that the bill was necessary because if sex selective abortion occurs it can create a “quite a mismatch.” Kestell then chuckled and asked, “can you imagine being a fourteen year old guy in school looking to ask someone to prom?” The Assembly passed his bill on Thursday evening.

“Representative Kestell’s comments about sex selective abortion are outrageous. If even one woman chooses to end a pregnancy because of coercion or pressure to have a child of a certain sex, that represents a departure from true freedom of choice and is one woman too many. This is not a laughing matter,” said Jenni Dye, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin.

“It is unbelievable that we are even having to point out that this issue is more serious than prom dates. Insensitive comments such as Representative Kestell’s—justifying a sex-selection ban so young men will have more dating options—demonstrate how little thought he has actually given towards women.”

“Meanwhile, abortion bans do nothing to change underlying cultural norms of sexism and gender bias that place greater value on boys over girls. Representative Kestell should support bills that promote gender equality, rather than making flippant comments,” added Dye.

A 2011 report on sex selection from the World Health Organization and other international-health groups indicates that restricting access to abortion services without addressing social norms and cultural factors is likely to result in a greater demand for unsafe, clandestine procedures that place women’s health and lives at risk. Anti-choice proponents are using the unfortunate circumstance of gender bias and inequality that may lead to sex-selection abortion as justification to advance their longstanding goal of banning abortion.

Rep. Chris Taylor On The Latest Attack On Women

From the inbox:

GOP passes forced ultrasound bill

Additional unprecedented attacks on birth control move forward

MADISON – Yesterday, the State Assembly continued to ignore the dismal economic conditions in Wisconsin, choosing instead to focus on extreme social issues, passing three bills that infringe on a woman’s ability to access birth control and abortion services. Despite hours of heartfelt debate from Assembly Democrats, Republicans rejected all efforts to improve the bills to make them more humane.

On a party-line vote, Republicans passed Assembly Bills 216 and 217 as well as Senate Bill 206. The bills substantially gut Wisconsin’s contraceptive equity law, which requires insurers to cover birth control. The bills also remove insurance coverage of abortion services from public employees, even if the health of the mother is in danger. Additionally, for the first time in Wisconsin history, a woman will be forced to have a medically unnecessary ultrasound before choosing to end her pregnancy. One of the bills would require a physician performing an abortion to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles. No similar state requirement is imposed on any other medical procedure.

“Last night, many brave Assembly women shared their compelling and deeply personal stories on the floor of the State Assembly. These stories included a medical privacy violation, the loss of loved ones, the loss of pregnancies and even a sexual assault,” said Taylor (D-Madison). “We shared our stories because we hoped that if we put a human face on the negative impact these bad public policies will have on women throughout Wisconsin, perhaps our Republican colleagues would show compassion and either limit or stop these bad bills from moving forward. We were unfortunately wrong.”

During the course of the debate, Republicans rejected 19 amendments to the three bills. These amendments included protecting a woman’s private medical records, removing a requirement that would force ultrasounds upon rape and incest victims who don’t report the attack, which is estimated to be approximately 81 percent of victims. They even rebuked an effort to require a medical professional to perform and read the mandated ultrasound.

“These bills had nothing to do with women’s health, but rather inserting politicians into personal, private health care decisions,” said Taylor. “Rather than addressing Wisconsin’s bottom of the barrel jobs status, Republican legislators are fixated on doing everything in their power to make abortion and birth control less accessible and ultimately illegal. Yesterday was a sad day for Wisconsin women.”

In a highly unusual move, the forced ultrasound bill was fast-tracked and brought to the Assembly floor without a vote from the Assembly Health Committee, on which Rep. Taylor is a member. Governor Walker indicated he will sign SB-206 into law after it passed the Senate on Wednesday and the Assembly on Thursday. Assembly Bills 216 and 217 are pending in the State Senate.

It matters that she is a Democrat

I don't normally publish fundraising emails - especially for groups that I work for - but the points in this email from Emerge Wisconsin were too important to pass up:

Of course it matters that we increase the number of women in office.  It matters more that we increase the number of Democratic women in office.  This is why Emerge Wisconsin only trains Democratic women.

This week, the State Senate and Assembly took up several bills that continued the direct assault on women's basic rights.  It was brought up by a female Democratic Senator that there were only 9 women in the State Senate.  There is the assumption that if there were more women in the Senate, then we wouldn't even have these anti-women bills to debate.

Yes, it makes a difference in legislation when we have more women serving in an elected body of government; however, the lead authors and champions of one of these anti-women bills areRepublican WOMEN!  This week is not the first time Republican women have led the attack on women's rights.  In the 2010-2012 legislative session, it was a Republican woman who led the effort in the State Assembly to repeal the Equal Pay Act.

With the help of supporters like you, Emerge Wisconsin has eight alumnae serving in the State Legislature.  We need your help to continue to increase the number of Emerge Alumnae and Democratic women serving Wisconsin citizens.  Please donate $9 or more today so we can continue our work of training Democratic women to run for office.

We are proud of our alumnae working hard for Wisconsin in the Senate and Assembly.  Your $9 or more today will help us train the Democratic women who will join Senator Nikiya Harris '11 and Representatives Penny Bernard Schaber '07, Jill Billings '11, Dianne Hesselbein '09, La Tonya Johnson '12, Melissa Sargent '12, Mandy Wright '12 and JoCasta Zamarripa '10.

Our goal is to increase the number of women running for and winning elected office, but it matters that she is a Democrat.

Sincerely,


Wendy Strout

Rep. Taylor Tells It Like It Is

From the inbox:

GOP advances extreme social agenda
Limits on birth control, workers’ rights considered

MADISON – With Wisconsin 44th in the nation in job creation, 45th in wage growth and last in the nation in short-term job growth, Republicans held 14 legislative hearings in the Capitol today. Rather than focusing on job creation, many of the hearings, some scheduled immediately after bills were introduced, advanced what Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison) calls “an extreme social agenda.”

“Despite Republican claims that their top agenda is repairing Wisconsin’s economy, today’s legislative activity confirmed the extreme social conservatives have high jacked the legislative agenda,” stated Taylor.

One of the bills highlighted today included Assembly Bill 216, which would allow some employers to prohibit their healthcare plan from covering abortion and include a broad exception to current law that birth control be covered in insurance plans.

“Republicans told voters in 2012 their top priority would be repairing our economy,” said Taylor. “So far, Republicans have failed to fix our economy, and it’s easy to see why. Over the course of the past few weeks, it’s become clear that rather than attacking our sluggish economy and advancing pro-active solutions, Republicans are more concerned with attacking a woman’s access to birth control and abortion.”

Assembly Bill 219 also received a public hearing today. The bill was intended to be a compromise on behalf of both workers and employers to address critical unemployment compensation issues facing Wisconsin. In the ultimate bait-and-switch, at the exact same time the public testified on the bill, Republicans legislators in the Joint Finance Committee slipped anti-worker provisions into the budget, making it harder for many unemployed workers to receive unemployment compensation.

“Beating up on Wisconsinites who are out of work isn’t going to fix our economy and it won’t trick the public into thinking Republicans are more reputable on job creation,” said Taylor. “Republican legislators should focus on getting Wisconsin out of our job slump rather than treating unemployed Wisconsinites and women using birth control as public enemies.”

The Assembly will be in session June 6, 2013. While they haven’t released their agenda, Taylor expects the agenda to be dominated by many of the extreme bills taken up by various committees today.

Is it to soon to say Chris Taylor for Governor?

WISGOP Poised To Legalize Sexual, Emotional Abuse

Just as it was in 2011, Scott Walker and the other Republicans have a lot of debts to repay for the financial support they received in order to buy their positions.

They are passing the mining bill, even though it won't stand up in court, because they owe the mining and power companies. They're passing bills to sell our children, their education and their futures in order to pay back the education profiteers.

And they are about to pass a bill legalizing the sexual and emotional abuse of women:

“We are in a very good place in Wisconsin,” Vos said. “We have a pro-life Legislature, pro-life governor in Scott Walker and a pro-life attorney general (J.B. Van Hollen). We can all wrap our arms around this agenda.”

And it sounds like the first bill to get a warm reception from Republicans will be what's being dubbed the “Woman’s Right to Know her Unborn Child Act,” also being termed the "ultrasound bill" by pro-choice forces.

The bill would require a woman seeking an abortion to receive an ultrasound and be informed of what is visible on the monitoring screen — although the woman would not be forced to look at the image.

“This bill is a priority,” Fitzgerald said. “It is long overdue.”

Barbara Lyons, executive director of the misnamed group Right to Life (Except for the Living), lied through her teeth, claiming that this procedure is non-invasive. This is patently false:

Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, is the former public policy director for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. She says requiring an ultrasound to be performed before all abortions would mean an invasive procedure for women who are less than 12 weeks pregnant.

At that stage in a pregnancy, she said, the uterus may be blocked by the pelvis, preventing a traditional ultrasound from picking up the image. Thus, a vaginal ultrasound would need to be performed in order to provide an image for a medical professional to discuss with a woman.

The reaction, as one would imagine, is less than warm. Jenni Dye, Executive Director for NARAL, said:

This is more evidence that the anti-choice leadership seems to have missed the memo from voters in November. Voters are tired of the divisive attacks on women, like subjecting them to invasive transvaginal ultrasounds. It’s time for politicians to do their job, not our doctors'.

Not only does it further prove that the Republicans are willing to sell out to the highest bidders and are crass misogynists, but it also shows their hypocrisy and cowardice.*

Remember, these Republicans are the same people that are afraid to meet their constituents, to see the damage their actions are causing in the real world outside of their ivory towers, and to take any responsibility for the consequences of their actions, whether it is in their political or personal lives.

Until they show real leadership by behaving the same way they expect others to behave, I can not have any respect for them.  In fact, I can not have anything but contempt for these vile creatures.

*And considering how much effort Vos and Fitzgerald put in in getting into different women's vaginas, they'd have figured out by now that their are no jobs in there.

I Hope Rep. Phil Gingrey Isn't Your Doctor

If you thought that, along with Mitt Romney and Allen West, the GOP rape comments made during the 2012 election cycle would slip into obscurity, never to return, you were so very wrong.

Enter congressman Phil Gingrey. Truthfully, I hadn't heard of this guy until I read about his attempt to "explain" away Todd Akin's comments about rape. You remember the whole "legitimate rape, women's bodies can shut that whole thing down" thing. Congressman Gingrey went before the Smyrna Area Council of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce this week to discuss a plethora of topics, but somehow ended up at Akin and Murdock's rape comments. Here's the ironic kicker about Gingrey - he has Dr. in front of his name. Yes, someone though it was smart to give this man a medical degree and license. And worst than that, he's an obstetrician/gynecologist. No, this isn't from The Onion.

To the women of Georgia who might have this guy as their doctor, I highly suggest you seek out someone else who doesn't put politics and ideology above your safety and well being.

Ready for this? Says Dr. Gingrey:

“And in Missouri, Todd Akin … was asked by a local news source about rape and he said, ‘Look, in a legitimate rape situation’ — and what he meant by legitimate rape was just look, someone can say I was raped: a scared-to-death 15-year-old that becomes impregnated by her boyfriend and then has to tell her parents, that’s pretty tough and might on some occasion say, ‘Hey, I was raped.’ That’s what he meant when he said legitimate rape versus non-legitimate rape. I don’t find anything so horrible about that. But then he went on and said that in a situation of rape, of a legitimate rape, a woman’s body has a way of shutting down so the pregnancy would not occur. He’s partly right on that.”

Really? A young girl who claims to have been raped probably was just messing around with her boyfriend, and is now scared and pregnant? THIS MAN IS A DOCTOR! Plus, there's nothing more detrimental to curbing violence against women then to suggest we're always making it up. No wonder congress can't pass the Violence Against Women Act. And no, there is no "partly right" because Akin was fully wrong.

Gingrey goes on to say:

"And I’ve delivered lots of babies, and I know about these things. It is true. We tell infertile couples all the time that are having trouble conceiving because of the woman not ovulating, ‘Just relax. Drink a glass of wine. And don’t be so tense and uptight because all that adrenaline can cause you not to ovulate.’ So he was partially right wasn’t he? But the fact that a woman may have already ovulated 12 hours before she is raped, you’re not going to prevent a pregnancy there by a woman’s body shutting anything down because the horse has already left the barn, so to speak. And yet the media took that and tore it apart."

A medical doctor considers getting women tipsy on wine, medical advice. Remember ladies, this doctor's advice is to just try to ovulate before you're sexually assaulted, so you won't have any rape babies! Makes perfect sense! The fact that Gingrey is even trying to bring these comments back to the forefront is disturbing to say the least. But on the flip side of the coin, it's a great chance to once again remind American's how far behind the times the right-wing is on women's issues. We can't even get congress to pass the Violence Against Women Act, and really how can they? They have congressman running around trying to re-define sexual violence, deny rights to some (remember, Eric Cantor does NOT believe Native American women deserve protection from violence) suggesting that scared teenagers are lying about their assaults, and want to use their medical degree to try and save their side from never winning an election again. Here's some advice from me:

Dear GOP,
It's 2013. Feel free to evolve and join the rest of the sane, free thinking world at any time.

If I were a member of the The Georgia Composite Medical Board, I would be asking some serious questions regarding Dr. Gingrey and whether or not he's able to practice medicine in a safe and productive manner.