Republicans for rape and other fun issues

Republicans to American Women: Bros Before Hos

A few weeks ago, Darling Rachel talked about Senator Franken’s first course of action – an amendment to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act. This piece of legislation prohibits our government from contracting with companies (coughHalliburtoncough) that prevent their employees from utilizing the U.S. justice system when they’ve been raped or sexually assaulted.

Marinate in that for a moment.

Should the U.S. government be prohibited from contracting with businesses where female employees are raped by coworkers and can’t do anything about it?

Al Franken and most of his colleagues voted, “Yes.”

Thirty senators voted, “No.”

Thirty, mostly old and white, men ”were brave enough to stand up in defense of rape and vote against Senator Al Franken’s anti-rape amendment to the 2009 Defense Appropriations bill.”

After the Daily Show covered this nonsense, more and more people have rallied against these Republicans for Rape. Check out this website and peruse the faces of those who consider Franken’s amendment a classic example of “government overreaching.”

Right. Let’s go batshit crazy over ACORN. Organizations that turn a blind eye toward violent crime against women? Not a big deal.

DeMint to Friends – Stop DeFending Me

Two GOP country boys from South Carolina (read: SOUTH CAROLINA) tried to defend their good buddy, Senator Jim DeMint, against Democratic charges of fiscal irresponsibility recently by saying that DeMint is to be admired. “(L)ike Jews who are wealthy, got that way not by watching dollars, but instead by taking care of the pennies and the dollars taking care of themselves.”

This offends me – as a writer, thinker, and history buff. Being Jewish has nothing to do with it.

If you’re going to use a stereotype to make your point – you better be standing in a barbershop or bar. Don’t do it on the pages of a paper where lousy sentence structure and poor prose, not to mention lazy generalizations, will overshadow any point you hope to make.

Besides, the quote you’re attributing to wealthy Jews, really came from Ben Franklin. Being Jewish had nothing to do with it.

Turn that Frown Upside Down Somewhere Else

Barbara Ehrenreich is one of my favorite social criticizers. She wrote Nickel and Dimed after all. Most recently, she uses her powerful pen to point at those who think positively in Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America.

She believes constant positive thinking has led to numerous catastrophes – such as job loss, mental illness, and the current economic crisis.

She has a point.

Realists are invaluable to a balanced discussion. We need them to come along and point out where our utopian ideals fall short. We need this valuable input in much the same way we need grumps at family gatherings who are brave enough to say out loud that Cousin Sue’s homemade gravy tastes like “cat shit.”

Happiness is self-bestowed, but that doesn’t mean we are always happy. Or even should be. Disease sucks and moods can swing and bad things happen to good people. Anger and rage are absolutely the right response to many events and issues.

In fact, a local story about a suicide at the Sunshine Skyway Bridge is only one example of how thinking positively while ignoring all evidence to the contrary can not only be delusional, but dangerous.

Sometimes the good cannot be found. Sometimes we have to isolate evil and keep away from it. Sometimes we must cry and scream when bad things happen to us.

But if we don’t learn something from our enemies and near-misses, then they happen in vain. That’s the real power of positive thinking and why I’ll never relinquish a single ounce. We must find some meaning in heartbreak.

Because after the tears dry, that’s often the only way to start smiling again.