Christian Schneider and the Politics of Rape

By Jeff Simpson 

Bradley funded. Journal Sentinel columnist Christian Schneider is out with a piece trying to tear down Russ Feingold for accepting out of state money:

Instead, Feingold is simply following the old campaign trick of a candidate trying to show strength in an area that represents his greatest weakness. In the past few months, reports have shown that Feingold has been living a double life that would make Josh Duggar cringe; despite decades of railing against money in politics, Feingold himself commanded a political action committee that has raked in millions from special interest groups.

While Feingold has been accepting out of state money from the likes of JJ Abrams and Steven Spielberg, after all RoJo did refuse to agree to the "Badger Pledge". Josh Duggar was busy doing other things - molesting his little sisters and his babysitter. 

The parents confirmed publicly for the first time that their firstborn son — who had previously apologized for unspecified “wrongdoing” as a teenager — had molested multiple young girls.
The Duggars, whose family stars in TLC’s popular reality show “19 Kids and Counting,” spoke about the multiple incidents of molestation that occurred in their Arkansas home. According to Jim Bob and Michelle, the victims included four of their daughters, along with a family babysitter.

To be PERFECTLY clear:  The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is endorsing the fact that one of its full time columnists has said Russ Feingold raising out of state money for his US Senate run is WORSE than molesting multiple young girls.


After David Haynes just wrote this column asking if Donald Trump has no shamesense of decency, he allows Christian Schneider to tell us that the secret life of Senator Feingold is worse than a child molestors.    

And yet the first reality television candidate has been able to turn the campaign into just another episode of "The Apprentice." He has cheapened a debate that already was bargain basement. In that distorted sense, his candidacy matters more than it should.
Is there a Joseph Welch to crystallize the moment? In an age when everyone has 140 characters to attack your character would it even matter? Am I old-fashioned for thinking that shame and decency have a place?
@realDonald Trump Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency? #trumped #jokecandidate #forshameNot quite the same, is it?

Let Mr. Haynes know, that this kind of partisan rhetoric os not ok.  That we put molesting young girls above politics and this is not ok.  If someone from the left had written this about Ron Johnson the oiutrage would be tremendous.  There is no room for this in our public debate of ideas.  

Here is Mr. Haynes contact information.   It is unfortunate Senator Feingold can not sue him for Slander.

David Haynes contact information - David D. Haynes: Editorial page editor

@daviddhaynes dhaynes@journalsentinel.com (414) 224-2770   

Scott Walker on Abortion

H/T Jud @UppityWI

It is so typical of the person we know Scott Walker to be. He can't even come out and say YES, he shakes his head to give himself deniability later.  Thank Goodness this reporter pushed him on the answer.  




To be perfectly clear, small government hero Scott Walker opposes abortion even in cases of rape or incest!  No exceptions.  

An Open Letter To George Will

Dear Mr. Will,
I read your recent column on the “supposed campus epidemic of rape, a.k.a. sexual assault” and am somewhat taken aback by your claim that forcing colleges to take a tougher stand on sexual assault somehow translates into a modern version of The Crucible that replaces witchcraft with rape hysteria.

I was specifically moved to write to you because the rape scenario that you describe somewhat incredulously is not unfamiliar to me. Not because I’ve heard it in many different iterations (I have sadly done many rape kits), but because it was not unlike my own rape. The lead up was slightly different, but I too was raped by someone I knew and did not emerge with any obvious physical evidence that a crime had been committed. I tried to push him away, I said “No!” and “Get off” multiple times,” but he was much stronger and suddenly I found my hands pinned behind my back and a forearm crushing my neck and for a few minutes I found it hard to breathe. I was 22, far from home, scared, and shocked and so at some point I just stopped kicking and let him finish. Sound familiar? For several weeks I didn’t even think about it as a rape because that was easier than admitting the truth. Again, sound familiar?
When a man who is much stronger than you holds you down (Hey baby don’t fight, you know you want it) and forces your legs open the violence and power of those movements is horrifically violating and utterly disempowering. You think you screamed NO! at the top of your lungs but you were so scared and so shocked that when you went from yelling no! to pleading no to silently weeping no is hard to remember. Implied violence Mr. Will is a terrifying thing indeed.
You labor under the fear (as some men do) that there is an epidemic of false rape. That good young men will go to jail for consent withdrawn after the fact. And while false accusations likely do happen (the Duke Lacrosse case is a recent, well-known example) these are the exception and not the rule and each time a male with a platform spouts off about a false epidemic of rape it only makes it harder for women who have been violated to come forward.
And your confusion about the under reporting statistics? First a woman has to get over her fear of her assailant and the shame imparted by society and then she has to deal with the police. There are no Special Victims Units like you see on T.V. protectively shepherding women through the process of facing assailants. And if fear and shame and being disbelieved by law enforcement were not enough of a deterrent think about having your pubic hair combed for your rapist’s DNA while you are dripping with his ejaculate. And you have the gall to wonder why some women might not immediately (if ever) report a rape? I am a 47 year-old financially and professionally secure woman in a stable, loving relationship and it took 25 years and your jackass column to get me to speak up about my rape. How easy do you think it is for a scared 20 year-old to call 911 or walk into a police station and say, “I was just raped?”
This weekend I was out dancing and experienced what I think you referred to as “micro-aggressions.” I had my buttocks pinched three times and my breasts groped twice. I was called a “bitch” and a “50-year-hag” when I politely declined hopeful suitors. Whether it is a cat call or a grope these actions represent sexual aggression and Mr. Will they have little to do with sex and everything to do with aggression. I wish someone taught those 40-something-year-old men in college that verbal assaults are not the appropriate response to “no thank you” and that pinching a women’s behind is not a mating ritual.
There is no woman who I have ever met personally or as an OB/GYN who thinks that surviving a rape confers some sort of privilege. I am genuinely curious if you interviewed a few young women hoping to earn their college rape badge or is that just a conclusion you reached looking at the issue of sexual assault through the myopic lens of misogyny?
Come spend a day in my clinic Mr. Will. Come see how the scars of rape linger even decades later.
There is no survivor privilege, just survivors.
This post was originally published at drjengunter.wordpress.com.

Dr. Jen Gunter is an OB/GYN and a pain medicine physician. She authored the book, The Preemie Primer, a guide for parents of premature babies.

Right Wing Reason?!?

By Jeff Simpson

I have been busy for a few days, but the right wing crazy never ever stops.  Time to catch up on a couple of things that no one should miss!  

Exhibit A - George Will:

The conservative titan wrote about "the supposed campus epidemic of rape, a.k.a. 'sexual assault,'" in a piece on Friday. He put this trend down to increased political correctness on college campuses, which, he said, was proving that when universities "make victimhood a coveted status that confers privileges, victims proliferate."

Exhibit B - Brad Schimel(h/t One Wisconsin Now), who just happens to be running for Attorney General:

 Exhibit C:  Fresh from Oklahoma:

Scott Esk is a conservative Republican running for a seat in the Oklahoma state Legislature, and he says he wants to apply Biblical principles to Oklahoma law. He also thinks that gay people should be put to death by stoning. And he isn’t doing much to hide the fact that he believes gay people deserve to be murdered, either.

Rob Morris, who runs a local political website, discovered Esk’s views about gay people while researching each of the candidates running this year. “This is the first time I’ve ever come across an Oklahoman with this kind of fringe attitude,” he told KFOR News Channel 4.

Morris found an exchange on Esk’s Facebook page from last summer in which Esk was asked if he believed gay people should be executed, “presumably by stoning.” Esk responded: “I think we would be totally in the right to do it. That goes against some parts of libertarianism, I realize, and I’m largely libertarian, but ignoring as a nation things that are worthy of death is very remiss.”

Morris followed up on the issue and Esk hardly backed down: “What I will tell you right now is that was done in the old testament under a law that came directly from God. And in that time, it was totally just, it came directly from God. I have no plans to, you know, reinstitute that in Oklahoma law. I do have some very huge moral misgivings about those kinds of sins,” Esk told Morris.

Republican Funnies

A collection of republican craziness, I have been collecting.  Probably all need their own posts but for time purposes, adding them here.  

1.   A New Mexico bill would imprison rape victims who have an abortion! 

hould a recently introduced bill in New Mexico become law, rape victims will be required to carry their pregnancies to term during their sexual assault trials or face charges of "tampering with evidence."

Under HB 206, if a woman ended her pregnancy after being raped, both she and her doctor would be charged with a felony punishable by up to 3 years in state prison:

Tampering with evidence shall include procuring or facilitating an abortion, or compelling or coercing another to obtain an abortion, of a fetus that is the result of criminal sexual penetration or incest with the intent to destroy evidence of the crime.

Sexual assault trials are infamously grueling for survivors, who are often subjected to character assassination and other attempts to discredit their accounts. State Rep. Cathrynn Brown's (R) bill would add the forced choice between prison or an unwanted pregnancy to these proceedings.

2. How do republicans truly feel about crazy gun bills?  Ayep scared to death of them, and support them anyway!  

Majority Whip Erik Helland, who is on a subcommittee assigned to the controversial bill, laments over how he was blasted in a blog about the bill during the earwigged conversation. He then goes on to complain about his part in the Alaska bill:

“I’m the dirty hatchet man for the [Republican] caucus. Something nobody wants to do, some dirty, nasty job. I’m the one who gets dropped in. You know why? Because I’m expendable.”

Speaker pro tem, Jeff Kaufmann, sympathizes with Helland’s plight, calling the Alaska Bill, “the crazy, give-a-handgun-to-a-schizophrenic bill.” At that point, someone – an aide, perhaps – rushes to the rescue, informing the unwitting Republicans that their off-the-cuff conversation is being overheard via a hot mic, and the conversation comes to a quick halt.

3.   You know Roger "some girls rape so easy" Rivard lost his seat in the Assembly.  Did you know that the Wisconsin republicans, led by Robin Vos, spent almost $100,000 to try and keep that seat?   Did you know that the republicans actually cried, when they had to say goodbye to Rivard?  

The comments by Majority Leader Scott Suder (R-Abbotsford) came as Assembly Republicans bid Rivard, a Rice Lake Republican, and other losing incumbents goodbye in the state Capitol.
“I cannot say enough about the person you are,” Suder told Rivard. “I’m proud to call you a dear, dear friend. … You are always welcome in this caucus.”

I hope the people in Suder's district who have daughters, nieces, cousins, sisters, etc...  remember this in 2 years!

4.  Glenn Grothman went on a racist rant again and no one even blinked:

5.   TN Republican Stacey Campfield wants to cut food assistance to kids with bad report cards!

Alas, it is true that Tennessee State Sen. Stacey Campfield has now reached a low beyond which I wouldn’t have believed even he could sink – both as an elected official who continues to waste tax dollars with his continual “stunt” legislation, as well as a human being.

 Mr. Campfield has introduced a new bill which slashes Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) payments for parents or caretakers of TANF recipients whose children fail to maintain satisfactory progress in school.

5a.  Republican Stacey Campield hit the crazy waves a second time!

  Campfield is under fire for comments he made last week on a Sirius XM radio program.  On the Michelangelo Signorile Show, the Knoxville senator said that the HIV epidemic came from a single gay airline employee having sexual relations with a monkey and that it is "virtually impossible" for AIDS to be transmitted during heterosexual sex.  Experts say both of those claims are false.

Luckily there is sanity everywhere, as a local restaurant refused to serve him!

 7.  Newly elected Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, calls Chuck Hagel and John Kerry, "less than ardent supporters" of our military! 

 FYI:  Hagel, a former Republican senator who Obama nominated for secretary of defense, and Kerry, a Democratic senator and nominee for secretary of state, both served in the Vietnam War. Hagel received two Purple Hearts; Kerry received three and a Silver Star and a Bronze Star.


Now tell me again how both parties are equally crazy?   

Paul Ryan: King of the Zygotes

By Jeff Simpson

And Friend to rapists everywhere!  

Paul Ryan (R - Ayn Rand), never really toned down his act when he ran for vice president, he just refused to answer most questions!

 The republican whiz kid, was able to hold his seat to become part of the republican minority, thanks to the white hoods of Waukesha County.  The fact that Ryan lost his home district, home town, home block and even home street, did not stop Pink Slip Paulie from heading right back to the far right extreme.   


Remember, this is the guy who thinks that Rape is JUST another type of conception:

Yes this paul ryan, is not only back, he has doubled down:

ryan has cosponsored a bill to give Human Zygotes legal rights: 

The personhood bill, first introduced in 2011 by Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) and reintroduced by Broun last week, specifies that a "one-celled human embryo," even before it implants in the uterus to create a pregnancy, should be granted "all the legal and constitutional attributes and privileges of personhood."

 The amazing thing about this bill(more than the fact it only has 17 cosponsors total) is:

 The bill died in the House of Representatives in 2011, when a record number of anti-abortion bills were being passed, and it is equally unlikely to advance this year. The Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down a state personhood initiative in 2012, deeming it "clearly unconstitutional" because it blocks a woman's legal right to have an abortion.

Too extreme for Missouri and Oklahoma and Pauli is standing at the forefront leading this issue.  It would be sad, except he was rewarded for it!  

Paul unfortunately is not happy just being extreme on rape he has to continue on by showing his disdain for all women...(Yes it is not just American victims of natural disasters he despises) see the "Sanctity for Human Life" bill that we are discussing here and it turns out the bill should be named "lets give parental rights to rapists" bill: 

In an unsurprising turn of events, Ryan has signed on as cosponsor to the Sanctity of Human Life Act again. The original bill — which declares that life begins with fertilization, and would give states the right to ban all abortion, even in the cases involving incest, rape, or the life of the mother — thankfully died in Congress in 2011.

But now it's baaaaack, which is scary because not only is the above terrifying, there's all sorts of other creepy shit hidden in this monster. Like, if a woman who was raped in a state that banned abortions went to a state that didn't ban abortions and had an abortion? Her rapist could theoretically sue to stop the abortion from happening, and probably win. And it doesn't stop there with the reproductive weirdness, if passed, it'll probably make many forms of IVF illegal.

By the way, for those keeping score at home -

Number of JOBS bills Ryan has cosponsored = 0

Once the righties found out about this provision, they then invited him to be the keynote speaker at republican Comic-Con.  This years event will feature a bunch of white male republicans pretending they are not running for president in 2016. 

One last heads up in the ever crazy game of, what bad is paul ryan bringing to WI now - be on the lookout this week for a few hundred very misinformed people in the southeast section of our state.  Seems the Racine tea party had a "healthcare exchange information session" .   

Which is a noble cause, the problem is, because of the NFL playoffs, they could not get anyone to come who understood what Healthcare  Exchanges mean to you, so they had to settle for Paul Ryan, Robin Vos, Leah Vukmir and Vicky Pyzynsky!   Expect alot of loud, angry, bitter people running around the Racine area, telling us things that just are not true about Obamacare.  

Anonymous Brings Justice

A poor girl in Ohio who needed help and Justice!  

In one of the most disturbing stories I have ever read, comes from small town Ohio, where a 16 year old girl was allegedly gang raped by members of the local football team, and in a high school football town, the whole town turned against her. 

On August 27, 2012 two members of the Big Red High School football team in Steubenville, Ohio – USA were arrested and charged with the rape and kidnapping of an out of town 16 year old girl that took place on August 11th. At the time of this gang rape, the girl was intoxicated and unconscious. The victim had been intentionally drugged with a “date rape” intoxicant. She was photographed and video was taken of her in this condition, and there is evidence that she was hauled in a comatose state to multiple parties – and almost certainly raped by more members of the local high school football team than just the two players who currently stand charged. There is even evidence that she was urinated upon during this hideous assault.

Then in stepped Anonymous to help this poor girl get justice!  

Great post here with numerous links and more depth into this disturbing story!  

That Thing Called Rape.....

The long list of republicans who have brought up, redefined and diminished rape, is too long to list!

Luckily someone started a Republican rape Hall of Fame to keep track of it all!

The problem with their website though, is they can never keep it current!

Just when they think they are caught up, THIS HAPPENS!

John Koster, a Republican congressional candidate in Washington state, said Sunday that "the rape thing" is not a good enough reason for a woman to have an abortion, the Associated Press reported.

Asked at a campaign fundraiser whether he supports abortion rights in some situations, Koster replied that he only supports abortion in cases where a woman's life is in danger.

"Incest is so rare, I mean, it's so rare," he said. "But the rape thing-- you know, I know a woman who was raped and kept the child, gave it up for adoption, and she doesn't regret it."

He added, "On the rape thing, it's like, how does putting more violence onto a woman's body and taking the life of an innocent child that's a consequence of this crime -- how does that make it better? You know what I mean?"

The Myth of the War on Women

As Meg points out Women of America really should be behind President Obama if you want silly things like equal rights, equal pay and respect! 

However for the women who are true believers in the right wing, have no fear!  Just because your presidential candidate has not quite grasped the concept of women in the workforce, and your vice presidential candidate thinks that getting pregnant by rape is just another way to plan a family! Just be careful if your alone with a well connected GOP activist! 

Well republican(and all) ladies, there is no need to fear.   The war on women is a myth anyway, because now YOU have your own pen!!!!

Paul Ryan Need's This Man

Indiana's U.S. Senate seat is up for grab this year, far right extremist Republican candidate Richard Mourdock was in a debate recently and he let his true republican colors come to light!

"I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize life is that gift from God," Mourdock said. "And I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen."

Luckily for the people of Indiana, there are some sane people in the state, including his opponent Democratic challenger Joe Donnelly.   

Democrats immediately pounced on his comments, and Donnelly -- who is also pro-life but who supports exceptions for rape and incest -- released a statement questioning the notion that God would "intend for rape to happen."

"The God I believe in and the God I know most Hoosiers believe in, does not intend for rape to happen -- ever," Donnelly said. "What Mr. Mourdock said is shocking, and it is stunning that he would be so disrespectful to survivors of rape.

Hmmm sound eerily similar to the views on rape and abortion of Todd Akin and Paul Ryan!    Let's check in and see what Paul Ryan(R-forcible rape) thinks of Mr. Mourdock, and his views on God Given Rape Gifts:

Rivard Island

By now, everyone in WI has heard Roger Rivard's comment's, where he gave an interview and talked about the values his father bestowed on him(emphasis mine):

He told the Journal Sentinel that his father had advised him not to have premarital sex, and he took that seriously. "He also told me one thing, 'If you do (have premarital sex), just remember, consensual sex can turn into rape in an awful hurry,' " Rivard said. "Because all of a sudden a young lady gets pregnant and the parents are madder than a wet hen and she's not going to say, 'Oh, yeah, I was part of the program.' All that she has to say or the parents have to say is it was rape because she's underage. And he just said, 'Remember, Roger, if you go down that road, some girls,' he said, 'they rape so easy.'

Another part of the story is that Paul Ryan haD endorsed Mr. Rivard. I have plenty of criticisms for Paul Ryan( R - Wall St.), but this is not one. I have to give credit where it is due. Today the congressman walked back his endorsement of Mr. Rivard. Here is a statement from Paul Ryan's Congressional campaign manager, Kevin Seifert:

"State Representative Rivard's comments are outrageous and offensive. Congressman Ryan believes there is no place in our discourse for rhetoric such as this. Congressman Ryan cannot support Mr. Rivard or his indefensible comments."

Congrats to Paul Ryan for doing the right thing, and leaving Roger Rivard all alone on his island of lunacy.  

The next question is, if Paul Ryan is not supporting Roger Rivard, why are you?

There is a choice in the 75th Assembly district, and Stephen Smith is ready to represent!

Republicans Have Total Disdain for Women

No wonder some people think the GOP are set to take over in November....everything they say is perfectly sane ........for 1812.

First off Paul Ryan thinks that rape is just another way to get pregnant.... Then there is Pennsylvania GOP Senatorial candidate Tom Smith:


Finally there is this blast from the past who used to be a sane moderate voice in the republican party, but

now is nowhere to be seen!

 


You can also check out the siren for more on Paul Ryan!