MRA – The next KKK?

A hat tip to Womanist Musings for the redirect to this article entitled The Growing Power of the Men’s Rights Movement.

The article itself was well written and brought attention to the radical agenda that certain MRA groups have going.  They are becoming cohesive and organized enough to start making judicial and legal differences.

The MRA movement is an expected backlash to the idea that women can be people too.   I know this is a radical idea, but it is vigorously opposed by these fundamentalist misogynists. But what is appalling are the comments left by the so called representatives of the MRA.  Let’s take a small sample:

(trigger warning)

“ONCE AGAIN, feminist c*nts CONTINUE TO LIE to promote their man-hating campaign.”

“Oh, no kidding. You mean when you refuse to count anything a woman may do to a man as domestic violence, and when you include men who hold up their hands to prevent women from striking them in the head (again) as abusers, your data show that men are more violent than women? Wow.”

“But this faulty rationale fails to recognize the difference between unjust oppression and healthy restriction; limiting a gender’s job responsibilities based on natural capacity is not the same as limiting a racial group’s opportunities based on appearance.”

“delusional c*nts are so funny when they are trying to make sense. this is why women belong in the kitchen and not online. they are too f*cking DUMB to make a coherent, rational point without resorting to hysterics. LAWL men need to learn how to protect themselves from these violent, dangerous, man-hating c*nts”

“In the last two weeks, both sex trafficking AND unequal pay have been officially exposed as myths created by feminists and based upon deliberate lies spread by those feminists in order to further the selfish interests of women (and esp. feminists themselves)”

I am saddened by the sheer burning stupidity left on the comments section.  The vitriol expressed not only toward women but the rights they are fighting for is shameful.

I thought debating religious people was frustrating.  I would not want to even go there and attempt *any* sort of rational debate with this people.  They really seem to be without redemption.

Is the Catholic Church a force for Good in the World?

Archbishop John Onaiyekan and Anne Widdencombe MP speaking for the motion and  speaking against the motion, Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry. 

Psst…America look!  a civil debate.  Try it sometime.

 

Another view of Remembrance day.

 

In a time where things are hyper sensationalized and denuded of any real meaning Remembrance Day has done remarkably well to maintain its somber demeanor and sense of decorum.  (I’m sure some budding capitalist is contemplating a remembrance day sale, just before being cuffed upside the head for being so vulgar)

I’d like to put forth the notion that we should change the focus of Remembrance Day; from the armed forces to the civilian populations that suffered the brunt of the casualties during  those special times where we leave our empathy and rationality at the door and engage in wholesale slaughter.

This is by no means a comprehensive listing of all civilian deaths due to war – just the low-lights that I could find.

World War I – 6.8 million civilian deaths.

World War II – 42 – 58 million civilian deaths.

Korean War – 2.8 million

Vietnam – 2.0 million

Nicaragua -  78,000 and counting due to landmines.

Iraq – 93,000 to 102,000 and rising.

Afghanistan – 32,000 and rising.

We should take this day to remember our humanity and to work toward understanding each other from across a table, not the barrels of guns.

We should remember those innocent victims of war, they certainly did not deserve their fate, yet war claimed them anyways.  We should remember the Armenian Holocaust, we should remember the Jewish Holocaust not only to remind us of depths of human depravity but to remember that tragic events such as these happened because ordinary people did not speak up and call out the injustice as it was beginning to happen.

It is our responsibility as human beings not to look and then turn away, but rather, we must face our ugly past to prevent an ugly future.

So, on this November 11th, I choose to remember our common humanity and weep for our losses due to the depredations of war and unrest.  I will remember that I will always have a choice whether or not to perpetuate evil, I will remember the past and hope I have the courage to make the right choice if faced with the grim situations that have marred our bloody history.

 

Afghanistan – Cleaning up corruption?

 

The British PM Gordon Brown wants Hamid Karzai to clean up corruption.  Brown said:

“I am not prepared to put the lives of British men and women in harm’s way for a government that does not stand up against corruption,” Brown said in speech at the Royal College of Defence Studies in London.”

This should be referenced in light of the recent attack in Helmand province in which an Afghan police officer shot and killed 5 British soldiers and escaped into the countryside.

“The soldiers concerned were mentoring Afghan national police. They were working inside and living inside an Afghan national police checkpoint, just outside Nad-e-Ali district centre,” Lt.-Col. David Wakefield, spokesman for the British forces, told Sky News. “It is our initial understanding that an individual Afghan policeman possibly acting in conjunction with one other started firing inside the checkpoint before fleeing from the scene.”

Occupying  a country certainly is more difficult if when they keep turning on you and killing your soldiers.  We are not going to see another British Colonial India in Afghanistan.  The governments of the West are deluding themselves if they think they can install some local panjandrum and then rule quietly behind the scenes.  It just will not happen, ask the Russians how much fun ‘ruling’ Afghanistan is.  Perhaps the British have more insight?  Doubtful.

But back to cleaning up corruption; or more specifically how to do so when it is your presence that is causing the massive corruption in the first place?

We should not be kidding ourselves.  The West’s military presence in Afghanistan is creating more problems than it is solving and should be withdrawn immediately.  If the Taliban, which we created and armed so well in the 1980’s, presents itself to be a problem then we should negotiate with them to broker an agreement without having to slaughter innocents in the process.

There is no way for the West to “win” in Afghanistan, we should begin reparations and move on as soon as possible.

Teabaggers off the fracking chain…

Sometimes you smile when you hear the misrepresentations of what Universal Heathcare.  Other times you get righteously pissed off.  This is neither.  I knew the teabaggers were ass-hats, through and through, talking foolish nonsense,  and being blindingly ignorant of history, but the picture below goes too far.

Yes, that really is a picture from a concentration camp, victims of state murder.  And they(our tinfoil hat wearing, retarded-ignorant-hate-spewing-monkey-bile-for-brains- teabagging representatives) are equating state sponsored mass murder with Universal Health Care.

Un-frakking- believable.  The ignorance demonstrated by these people is mind shattering.

 

 

The Greatest Show on Earth – Dawkins

Richard Dawkin’s latest book the Greatest Show on Earth (GSOE) is a great primer on Evolution and the important contributions Charles Darwin made to the field of biology.

I’m currently listening to the GSOE in my car, and I have the print copy fairly high up in my reading pile.

Some reviews are getting annoyed at Dawkins for taking shots at creationists, but others think that it really is not so bad.

I’m inclined to agree with Mr.Dawkins when he takes the odd jab at the rotten edifices of religion, no surprise there, but it is necessary to show exactly how wrong the religiously deluded are.

It has been great listen so far, and I would highly recommend reading the GSOE if you want to work on your evolutionary fundamentals or polish your arguments in defense of evolution.

Magical Unrape in the Canadian Armed Forces

Let’s rewind a little to get the background of what has transpired in this rape/unrape situation.

” On the evening of July 29, 2004, then[a female private in the Canadian Armed Forces Reserve] says she was celebrating the end of a military training course with her fellow reservists, including her mom, and instructors at Debney Armoury on Roper Road when her life took a shocking turn.
It was during those celebrations that she says she was raped.”

(Trigger Warning) – This story is fairly repugnant from beginning to end.

The title of this newspaper article, from the SUN, one of my favorite newspaper chains to hate for their artless casuistry is patriarchal gold – “Career dream shattered“.    Not “brutal rape in bathroom stall” or “Female Recruit Assaulted and Raped” …  no no nothing like that.  That might actually place the focus on the victim, and that clearly, is unacceptable (and worth a post all on its own).

“Officers in the course really need to have their training down because no one knew what to do,” she said.

Let me go out on a limb here and speculate that “no one knew what to do” really meant that  is ‘how are we going get out of this situation with Savage’s reputation intact’.  The Armed Forces are not exactly known to be a bastion of liberal ideals and progressive thought.

“I was told to seek medical attention before I went to the police. Then, at the base, the nurses explained they didn’t do rape kits, so I had to wait until they were all done for the day before they would take me to the Royal Alex.

“The site nurses didn’t have a kit and said the police had to bring it.”

Some 17 hours after the alleged attack, Santonne says she was finally assessed by a doctor.

Hmm…raped, shuffled around for 17 hours – we certainly do not live in a patriarchal society here.

Her comments:

Now, [she] claims she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and has no intentions of pursuing a career with the military, adding she initially entered the reserves because she was anxious to serve her country and see the world.

“For me, it’s now a lost cause,” she said.

The results of the first trial on January 8th, 2008 (note the time of the rape, was 4 years ago) was a conviction, but watch the defense comments for the set-up…

“An Edmonton soldier was sentenced Monday to three years in prison for raping a young female recruit. Orman Savage, 38, was convicted in August of sexually assaulting the woman during a party following basic training three years ago.

Provincial court Judge Albert Chrumka agreed with Crown prosecutor Avril Herron, who argued that a prison term is the only just sentence for Savage.“

Right on forces of justice!  A sorely won victory…?

“Savage and his supporters have steadfastly maintained his innocence throughout the trial. Defence lawyer Brian Beresh said Monday his client will immediately launch an appeal.

“The appeal will be based on what we consider to be procedural unfairness at the trial,” Beresh said.”

I am curious about what procedural unfairness (you will see this material again) really means in the context of this case.  As the judge says the defense managed to shoot itself in the foot several times during the trial –

“In his ruling last summer,[Judge] Chrumka called Savage’s testimony at trial “ludicrous” and “concocted.”

“You seem to be your own worst witness,” he said, adding the testimony was “so fanciful it is unbelievable.

“Chrumka said he believed the testimony of the woman, who was 21 when she was attacked.”

The case was appealed and brought before a different court.  The previous ruling was overturned and a woman was ‘unraped’.

“A former Edmonton soldier said he feels as if he’s been released from a nightmare after being acquitted Friday on sexual assault charges following an earlier conviction.”

– “All I can say is that I am glad to see that this nightmare is over after five and a half years and to finally see justice actually be done,” Savage said outside court.”

You should not say anything.  You found a judge and jury willing to listen to the archetypal anti-woman, rape culture approved, victim-blaming that is so perversely common in our society.  Watch and weep…

1.  “Savage claimed it was the woman who made sexual advances.”

And therefore got what she deserved because one alleged “yes” cancels out the sobbing, pleading, resisting  “no’s” that come after.   This is bull-cookies of first fracking order, the legal notion of consent needs to be changed NOW.

2.  “The young recruit fell backwards while she was hunched over the toilet, vomiting, Savage told the jury. As he helped her up, she threw her arms around his neck and said, “I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time.” Then she tried to kiss him, Savage said.”

Because it is so obvious that she wants it, oh damn, for sure with all the vomiting retching and other pleasantness that goes along with expunging your stomach contents.  It just screams ’sexy time’.

3. [...] defence lawyer Brian Beresh challenged the credibility of the female recruit.

“I would suggest much of her story is like a Hollywood script,” Beresh told jurors. “But she’s written the scenes to be all in her favour.”

Ah yes, here we have the procedural unfairness rearing its ugly head.  The last time around we did not actually properly attack the female victim and her integrity; instead we  made ourselves look stupid – recall Judge Chrumka’s previous comments: Savage’s testimony at trial [was] “ludicrous” and “concocted.”

How one gets from essentially incriminating oneself to suggesting that the female private’s story is like Hollywood script is really quite beyond me.

The immoral of the story if she’s puking drunk and mumbles something vaguely coherent toward you, its a fracking green light for the frak-fest to begin.  Don’t consider the physical context (vomiting in a bathroom stall), her state (drunk enough to lose consciousness and void her stomach), or her rights (not to be used as a piece of meat for your momentary pleasure).

When do we start treating women as fully sentient, autonomous beings -  ya know, the default setting for men?

The UN – Setting the bar for what reproductive debates *should* be about.

Sometimes here at DWR headquarters I get a little discouraged by all the people whose beliefs are so horribly vapidly wrong about the reproductive issues women face.

ENTER THE UN: with little snippets such as :

• All women have access to contraception to avoid unintended pregnancies
• All pregnant women have access to skilled care at the time of birth
• All those with complications have timely access to quality emergency obstetric care.

Wow, people working to actually help women, instead of stripping them of their rights.

Which religion are you?

Wham! – I just broke my desk with my head.

 

I am in need of alcoholic libation.

 

 

Synapses shutting down…can’t fire neurons…   I would not be surprised if she was anti-choice as well, just to round out the crazy.