I'm a DC-area mother with an over-developed sense of irreverence, ADD, socialist tendencies and a blog. All my opinions are entirely my own and not representative of anything officially sanctioned by any political party, my mother, or arbiters of common sense and good taste.
The NRA released their “MOAR GUNS FR EVVERBODY!” plan related to their ideas about school safety yesterday. I think most of it sucks. (Shocker, right?). I’m sounding off about the whole awful thing at The Broad Side today: Children are not safe in an environment with guns. Guns are far more likely to be used in a homicide, suicide, or accident than in defense. Even in the hands of law enforcement, guns injure innocent people.…
Yet another man is wringing his hands and hollering “MOAR BEBEHS!!! MOAR!!!”. Refreshingly, it isn’t in the context of anti-choice and forced-birth-after-rape policies. No, this time it’s a New York Times columnist lamenting the dramatic declines in the US birth rate and how it will weaken us as a nation. He seems to think that we’ve all stopped having babies for decadent reasons and what we need is to be more pro-family. FOR AMERICA. I…
I have a new post up at The Broad Side talking about the task of explaining the election to my son: Now that we’re deep into election season, my little boy has been forced to endure many of the same virulent political ads as the rest of us. They were on during the Olympics all summer and they run almost non-stop during the morning news program I like to turn on. Just by virtue of…
I know we all feel bludgeoned by the rape talk this week after Todd Akin got stupid on tv and then the GOP platform committee approved an abortion plank supporting a Constitutional amendment banning all abortion, no exceptions. Which, by the way is stomach-churning in it’s horror. However, I wrote a piece for The Broad Side about the nature of the debate about “legitimacy” of sexual assault because I can’t get over the idea that…
Remember a few months ago when I lost my shit over all the hoops legislators all over the country were making women jump through in order to get an abortion? And I went off on a major rant about the stupid fucking paternalistic attitudes that male politicians take towards women and their bodies? I wrote a long post about it at The Broad Side. Here’s a bit of it if you don’t remember: When they…
I’m over at The Broad Side this week with an oldie but goodie. I dusted off a post I wrote a year ao about the inevitability of losing the war for women’s reproductive rights: The anti-abortion movement instead operates on dreams of saving apple-cheeked infants who will warm the heart of even the most reluctant prospective mother. They promote a morality of abstinence, which even the staunchest pro-choice advocate will admit is a fail-safe contraceptive.…
I’m over at The Broad Side releasing yet more of my anger over the current wave of legislation impacting women. At this point, everything about contraception and abortion sounds less like thoughtful concern and more like ways of punishing people for having sex. Specifically, punishing women for having sex even though women are not having sex alone. I humbly argue that it is time to bring men into this sexual judgement limelight. It is time…
I’m over at The Broad Side today talking about the unfairness of the staggered primary system. The other fact that should be upsetting is the inherent unfairness of the staggered primary system. Not to the candidates. It’s arguable that being able to focus on one state at a time is better for candidates. But the practical result of the staggered primary system is one in which each successive state to vote gets a less robust…
