Archive for punishment

Quickie: Conservative Club for Growth will punish members voting for Sandy flood aid

quickie12 smaller

Today’s Quickie:

Via The Hill:

The conservative Club for Growth said Friday that it will punish House members who voted for a flood insurance measure aimed at helping pay for Hurricane Sandy’s damage.

How many of those Club for Growth members call themselves “pro life”?

Of those members, how many call themselves hypocrites?

pro life hypocrisy Via Sodahead

That was today’s Quickie. Was it good for you?

Judge: “If someone doesn’t want to have sexual intercourse, the body shuts down.” He remains on the bench.

In California, my home state, an Orange County Superior Court Judge named Derek G. Johnson has been admonished by the Commission on Judicial Performance for his Todd Akinesque remarks in a sexual assault case.

Back in 2008, he  denied a 16-year prison term for Metin Gurel who had been convicted of rape, forcible oral copulation, domestic battery, stalking and making threats against his former live-in girlfriend. He also threatened to mutilate her face and vagina with a heated screwdriver.

Johnson sentenced him to 6 years.

Here’s how his minuscule speck of a brain worked, via the L.A. Times:

“I’m not a gynecologist, but I can tell you something. If someone doesn’t want to have sexual intercourse, the body shuts down. The body will not permit that to happen unless a lot of damage in inflicted, and we heard nothing about that in this case.

“That tells me that the victim in this case, although she wasn’t necessarily willing, she didn’t put up a fight.”

So clearly, this was another case of illegitimate rape, because he also said the rape was “technical,” and not “a real, live criminal case.”

That would make him an “illegitimate judge”. Someone should shut him down.

The commission, the one that admonished Judge Ignoramus, said it did not learn of the judge’s remarks until May 2012.

Johnson remains on the bench.

Todd Akin’s wife: Pressure to quit over “legitimate rape” comment is like British soldiers raping colonists in 1776

 

Eyes popping out of head. Jaw dropping onto floor. Grabbing onto large, inanimate object to steady myself. Gasping for air. Yes, Todd “Legitimate Rape” Akin (see videos above for recap of his original remarks) is married to someone who compared criticism over those now-infamous comments to British soldiers raping colonists in 1776. 

Maybe she didn’t like Karl Rove suggesting, “We should sink Todd Akin. If he’s found mysteriously murdered, don’t look for my whereabouts!”

But comparing GOP leaders to rapists? Then again, these are not your average, everyday middle-of-the-roaders. Team Ryan-Akin tried to completely eliminate women’s reproductive freedom (so much for that “personal freedom” conservative talking point) and redefine rape as only “forcible”… as if any rape is something a woman would want, agree to, or encourage.

Ryan may be Etch A Sketching a little on that front, but now he’ll have to distance himself a little further unless he wants the radical “raped my daughters and wives of American colonists” comparison to rub off on him, too.

Via the National Journal, where we see that wife Lulli is no fan of her own party’s leaders:

Party bosses dictating who is allowed to advance through the party and make all the decisions—it’s just like 1776 in that way.”

She cited colonists who “rose up and said, ‘Not in my home, you don’t come and rape my daughters and my … wife. But that is where we are again. There has been a freedom of elections, not tyranny of selections since way back. Why are we going to roll over and let them steamroll us, be it Democrats or Republicans or whomever?” Obama and Mitt Romney “both seem to be embodying” a British monarch, “with all the tactics that they’ve been revealing” toward her husband, Lulli Akin said. “Are they that dissimilar?” she asked. “Are they really dissimilar? They say with their mouths ‘free enterprise’—but, really, how free?”

Asked about comparisons of his plight to revolutionary Americans, Todd Akin called it “a little more grandiose than the way I would say it.” But he seconded the theme, citing “this tremendous sense of uprising I feel among the people I talk to,” that “ ‘We made a decision, and [even if] I didn’t even vote for you … it was a legitimate race.’ ”

Talk about legitimate extremists. Claire McCaskill better win this one. She may be a Blue Dog, but she’s no Akin.

AUDIO: PA Republican candidate suggests that having a child out of wedlock analogous to rape. Paul Ryan: Rape a “method of conception.”

Per Politics PA, Republican Tom Smith is running against Democratic Sen. Bob Casey in Pennsylvania, and he disturbingly suggested that having a child out of wedlock was analogous to rape.

No, I’m not kidding. Here’s the audio from a Pennsylvania press club luncheon:

Audio via Think Progress.

Smith: I lived something similar to that with my own family. She chose life, and I commend her for that. She knew my views. But, fortunately for me, I didn’t have to.. she chose they way I thought. No don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t rape.

Mark Scolforo, Associated Press: Similar how?

Smith: Uh, having a baby out of wedlock.

Scolforo: That’s similar to rape?

Smith: No, no, no, but… put yourself in a father’s situation, yes. It is similar. But, back to the original, I’m pro-life, period. [...]

John Micek, Morning Call: Mr. Smith, can I ask you to clarify one more time the question that Mark asked you. Did I just hear you say that having a child out of wedlock is analogous to rape?

Smith: No, I did not say that.

Scolforo: You did say that.

Micek: But you did say it, sir.

Scolforo: But you did say that.

Smith: I said I went through a situation.

Scolforo: With your daughter, with a daughter.

Smith: Yes.

Scolforo: OK.

Smith: And it’s very, very difficult. But do I condone rape? Absolutely not. Do I propose life? Yes I do. I’m pro-life, period.

Scolforo: So what’s the similarity between those two, in other words? Just that there’s a decision involved?

Smith: (Pause.) A life is a life, and it needs protected. Who’s going to protect it? We have to. I mean that’s, I believe life begins at conception. I’m not going to argue about the method of conception. It’s a life, and I’m pro-life. It’s that simple.

Speaking of “methods of conception,” here are Paul Ryan’s comments on Todd Akin’s “legitimate rape” idiocy:

“The method of conception doesn’t change the definition of life.”

GOP talking points on rape/conception: Check.

So rape is just, you know, another way to conceive. There’s consensual sex, sex out of wedlock, and then there’s forcing a woman to do something against her will (rape), traumatizing her for life. All are equal, all are simply “methods of conception” and if a woman gets pregnant by any “method,” men like these, lawmakers like these, will tell her what she can do or can’t do with her own body. They will determine for her that she must go through “forcible” birth.

Pro-forced birth would also be the ultimate goal of a President Romney with his choice (no pun) of Supreme Court justices.

And that would “change the definition” of freedom, privacy, and choice.

PhotOH! “Mitt is legit”? As in “legitimate”? Seriously, RNC?

A Meghan McCain tweet confirms the jaw-dropping tone deafness of the GOP. “Legit” as in “legitimate”? Really?

A despicable double-double meaning.

Timing is everything.

Oh, My Akin Ideology

 Today’s guest post by the one, the only, Will Durst:

Oh, My Akin Ideology

Mining humor out of Missouri Senate hopeful Todd Akin’s barrage of claptrap is tougher than eating frozen jerky in a rowboat on the eyewall of Hurricane Isaac. Normally, rape and funny live in two different solar systems, whose orbits rarely if ever intersect with significantly different trajectories and fields of gravity, if you catch our drift.

But this guy’s historic and colossally moronic remark is the very exception that proves the rule winning him in one fell brimming swoop, the Joe Biden “Foot So Deep In His Mouth He’s Probably Tickling His Spleen with His Shoelaces” Lifetime Achievement Award.

During an interview with St. Louis television station KTVI, the Republican Congressman told a reporter, that from what he understands from doctors, women who are legitimately raped don’t get pregnant. And the plopping noise across the country from mouths dropping open was loud enough to wake every student at Gallaudet University.

Now, we expect our anthropoidal troglodytes to believe stupid stuff; we’re just not used to hearing their inane anthropoidal troglodytic beliefs articulated out loud. Refreshing and depressing at the same time.

Wow. Where do you start? Legitimately raped? Suffice it to say that no qualifying adverb is ever necessary in front of that particular noun. Especially from a man. And what does he mean by “legitimate”? It seems to infer something exists that could be known as “illegitimate” rape but, oh no, we’re not going there. As redundant as Halloween in San Francisco. Boring in Burlington. Hot in hell.

Next to the abstracted nonsense of his feeble- minded opinion, it’s the casual attribution that rankles. Here’s a man running for the US Senate using medieval wives’ tales as philosophical justification. And he’s a member of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology? Let’s hope his concentration is on space and technology. Notwithstanding the space between his ears.

Also makes one worry about the state of the medical profession in Missouri. Is the Show Me State overrun with puritanical shamans? 13th century barbers? Filipino psychic surgeons? Physician bags stuffed with snake oil and leeches? Do their white jackets have long long sleeves that wrap around the back where they’re buckled real tight?

The inundation was so overwhelming it came close to rendering Chris Matthews speechless. Almost. While an oblivious Akin tried to walk back his clueless comments, the GOP brought out the industrial strength cattle prods to walk him back over a cliff. Steep drop. Sharp rocks. Big waves.

Republicans needed to reignite a War on Women right before their national convention the same way a fireworks factory needs a grease fire on July 3rd and the entire party rented jet skis to rooster tail away from the eye of stupidity as far and fast as possible.

The storm surge of Hurricane Akin washed a bit of the shine off Golden Boy, Paul Ryan, as well. He and Akin have a history of introducing bills to redefine rape and both oppose a woman’s right to choose following one. Not a problem for Romney though. Who thinks completely different. Or doesn’t. No one’s quite sure.

Thus far, the Tea Party favorite is determined to stay in and go full term. And Democrats across the nation are shouting themselves hoarse fanning the waves of this deluge, while whispering words of encouragement hoping this testament of dark bewilderment exercises his god- given right to remain consummately cretinous in public. To election day! And beyond!

The New York Times says 5 time Emmy- nominated comedian and writer Will Durst “is quite possibly the best political comic working in the country today.” Check out the website: redroom.com to buy his just released book: “Will Durst’s Totally Indispensable Guide to the 2012 Election.” Go to willdurst.com to find out about stand- up performances, such as: every Tuesday, Elect to Laugh! @ The Marsh, San Francisco. themarsh.org. Only ELEVEN, 11, shows to go.

Don’t forget the Will & Willie Show on KOFY channel 20 this Sunday @ 7 &12.

GOP, the Pro-Forced-Birth Party: “Akin is them. They are Akin.”

Shannyn Moore wrote a killer article for the Anchorage Daily News. In it , she refers to “forced birth” which is very similar to my own “pro-forced birth” label (and if you’ve kept track, we use that as a tag in our TPC posts). Let’s hope more people make use of similar terms with which to identify those who fall in line with Todd Akin and Paul Ryan’s Neanderthal positions on women’s reproductive rights.

Shannyn has graciously permitted us to cross post:

I’m getting really tired of the pile-on of Missouri Congressman Todd Akin. He isn’t being treated fairly, and I think it should stop.

During an interview Mr. Akin answered a question regarding his views on abortion. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

The idea of ladies having a Venomous Venus Flytrap-like apparatus that slams shut when there’s an unwanted intruder sounds awesome. It’s not true. Last year 32,000 American women were impregnated after being raped. “Legitimately.”

OK, women — we’re kind of mysterious. Most guys didn’t watch those awkward sex-ed film strips in grade school. That thing that looked like a bullhead with horns was on the inside, and they spent more time looking at the JC Penney underwear pages.

I don’t understand why Republicans are piling on Akin. He simply said what other Republican leaders have been thinking and saying for years.

The Supreme Court calls it “disparate treatment.” If everyone shows up five minutes late to work and you’re fired for showing up five minutes late, you have a legitimate case. Todd Akin is being discriminated against by his own party.

I am here to defend Mr. Akin’s ignorance. It’s not that he didn’t pay attention; he actually learned the wrong thing.

Dr. Jack Willke, who helped found the International Right to Life Federation in 1984 and served as president of the U.S. National Right to Life Committee, was his source. This week the not-so-good doctor told the New York Times, “This is a traumatic thing — she’s, shall we say, she’s uptight. She is frightened, tight, and so on. And sperm, if deposited in her vagina, are less likely to be able to fertilize. The tubes are spastic.” Uptight? Spastic? Really?

Dr. nWillke isn’t seen as a quack by the Republican party. He is wooed by candidates. Mitt Romney’s 2007 campaign lauded the doctor’s endorsement stating Willke would be “an important surrogate for Governor Romney’s pro-life and pro-family agenda.” The press release went on, “I am proud to have the support of a man who has meant so much to the pro-life movement in our country. He knows how important it is to have someone in Washington who will actively promote pro-life policies.” When Congressman Akin apologized, he did so for using the wrong word. One wrong word. He said “legitimate” when he meant to say “forcible.”

The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act bill, filed last year, co-sponsored by Congressman Akin and VP pick Paul Ryan, used the doctor’s published theory and language of “forcible rape.” Their idea was to remove incest, statutory, drugged or developmentally disabled victims from the list of real rape in order to deny federally funded abortion. Forced birth.

So who called the Code Red on Congressman Akin? Seriously? Mitt Romney was endorsed by the doc. Romney selected Akin’s ideological twin in Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan.

Even Rush Limbaugh wanted Akin to drop out. Rush. Yes, the guy who thinks you should take as many birth control pills as you have sexual encounters and likes the word “slut.” Could someone please tell him lady pills are different than Viagra?

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, along with many others in her party, called on Akin to quit. Why? Did she forget when the same people in her party scolded her for running a write-in campaign? The Republicans will vote Monday to accept their plank that has no abortion exceptions for rape or incest. What about the next Papa Pilgrim who moves his family into the boonies so he can rape his daughters in private? What if he impregnates his daughter? Should she be forced to give birth to her half-brother/son?! Are you SERIOUS? Yes. That’s what Republicans want — abortion made illegal including rape and incest. For women who choose to have their rapists’ babies, 27 states have no statutes to protect them from having to share custody with the man who attacked them.

After courting the evangelicals with pledges to ban abortions and gay weddings, the Republicans are about to bring to full term what they conceived. They had no intention of terminating either of those boogie men. The social issues raise money and distract us all (on both sides) from discussing matters more appropriate for government. The Mike Huckabees and Palins and mega-church preachers want their due after falling in line for several decades.

Akin is them. They are Akin. Hypocritical voices are calling for the congressman, who won his primary, to quit. He’s more dangerous to them than anyone else. He exposes their values in a way that most of us can’t accept. Rape is rape. A woman shouldn’t be forced by her government to have a child — it’s so Handmaid’s Tale.

So, Republican elites, back off and let the man run his race and his mouth.

Shannyn Moore can be heard weekdays from 6 to 9 p.m. on KOAN 1020 and 95.5 FM radio. Her weekly TV show can be seen Saturdays and Sundays at 3 p.m. statewide on ABC affiliates KYUR Anchorage, KATN Fairbanks and KJUD Juneau.