- Off the Wagon
When Chimpy McAsshat got reselected, I promised myself no more politics. No more. Done. Doesn't do a damn bit of good and it gives me a headache and the world is a much much nicer place to live if I stick my fingers in my ears and yell "LALALALALA!"
Alas. Santorum is up for re-election in '06. And being the good little girl my mama raised, I cannot in good conscience allow PA to continue walking around with Santorum on its face because really, thats just bad manners. And pretty fucking gross if ya ask me. So, back into the fray I go.
Now I know jack-diddley-squat about politics in PA. Didn't know much about national political stuff pre-chimpy either. Didn't get interested in politics at all until I realized that there are many stupid people in America. Fear is a great motivator. Anyhoo, point is, know squat about the peeps running for the primary. Enter Bob Casey.
Casey is currently the State Treasurer. So I boogie on over to his website thinking, you know, like "Yay Democrats". Cause Democrats generally support the things I support. The right to choose. GLBT rights. Things of that sort. And I get to his site and I'm all looking for the "Issues" button. So that I know where he stands. On the issues. That voters are concerned with. Aaaannnddd..... nothing. No button. Well, ok, stupid site design, gotta wade through the text to see...... well, to see not a damn thing. I know he's running for Senate, with Rendell's endorsment, and I know he went to Catholic University, and that's about it. Odd.
So I abandon all hope of figuring out the Casey debacle and do some blog surfin. Threeriversonline.com has an ad for this Chuck Pennacchio fellow, whom I've never heard of, so I go check out his site. Lo and behold, there's a button marked "Issues" right there at the top of the page. I click and yep, there they are. Pro choice. GLBT friendly. Typical Dem.
But of course, I want to be able to make an informed choice about whom I'm going to support, and there's all this hoopla about Casey, so I dig and I dig and I dig, and finally I find out why he doesn't have a straight forward statement of his beliefs on his website. He's anti-choice. Against domestic partner benefits. Against gay adoption. He's not a democrat, he's republican-lite. Fuck that.
Attention Democratic party: you're supporters are already PISSED OFF because you fucked up the presidential election. We don't like republicans, that's why we VOTE DEMOCRAT.
As of now, Chuck P. has the GirlyDyke seal of approval. That might change if someone else throws their hat in the ring. But regardless, if Casey wins the primary, I won't be voting Democrat.
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
- International Women's Day*
In June of 2002, a 14 year old boy in rural Pakistan was accused of having an affair** with a girl from a rival, more powerful tribe. Upon hearing that the boy would be tried for this alleged affair, his older sister went to the tribal council to plead for mercy on his behalf. She was sentenced to be gang raped for her troubles. Thus begins the story of Mukhtar Mai.
Immediately, four volunteers carried out the sentence and afterwards Mai was forced to walk to her parent's house nearly naked while hundreds of villagers stared. In Pakistan, a family's honor lies in the virtue of it's women. Rape is considered to seriously dishonor the family of the victim, so much so that suicide is considered a favorable solution. Mai considered this option, but instead found the courage to go to the police and press charges.
Six men were sentenced to death for their roles in the case, and Mai was awarded $8000. Instead of taking the money and moving to a more populated area, she decided to stay in her village and used the money to open a school for girls***. She immediately enrolled.
From Mai's website: "I hope to make education more readily available to girls, to teach them that no woman should ever go through what happened to me," Mai says. "And I eventually hope to open more school branches in this area of Pakistan. I need your support to kill illiteracy and to help make tomorrow's women stronger. This is my goal in life."
Conservatives claim that giving women autonomy and allowing them to control their own lives undermines the family. I bet Pakistani councils believe the same thing. Some people think that feminism is dead. As long as women like Mai exist, feminism will never die.
Happy International Women's Day.
More information here, and the latest update here. So much for justice.
* To answer the anti-feminists asking "why don't MEN have a day?"- They have 364 of them. Shut the fuck up.
** It was later discovered that the accusations were made to cover sexual abuse of the boy.
*** You can make a donation here.