Women Born Transsexual

What is wrong with these sick perverted misogynistic pigs?  They aren’t real men, they are sub-human and more deserving of abuse than any non-human animal.

They make me want to puke on them.  That and they all look like the Larry Craig closet case type.

From Raw Story: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/georgia-republicans-bill-would-reclassify-rape-victims-as-accusers/

By Nathan Diebenow
Saturday, February 5th, 2011

When is a rape victim legally a victim of rape?

According to a Georgia state representative, the term “victim” should be applied only after the accused has been convicted.

State Rep. Bobby Franklin (R-Marietta) recently introduced a bill mandating that not only victims of rape be re-classified as “accusers,” but victims of stalking, harassment, and family violence should as well.

If passed, the legislation [PDF] would amend state criminal law “in the context of a number of statutes making reference to circumstances where there has not yet been a criminal conviction; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.”

Critics said that they feared Franklin’s bill would decrease reports of rape, which is itself already an underreported crime [PDF], according to the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

“To be classified, off the bat, as an accuser instead of as a victim places one more barrier to reporting the crime to the authorities,” Amie Newman of RH Reality Check wrote recently.

Continue reading:  http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/georgia-republicans-bill-would-reclassify-rape-victims-as-accusers/

The newly released statistics showing a drop in unemployment are the result of  mathematical  trickery.  a number of people were dropped from unemployment insurance due to having maxed out their claims.  they are still unemployed they just joined the rest of folks who make up the real rate of unemployment which is around 17%.

From The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/04/missing-workers-44-millio_n_818314.html

Lila Shapiro

February 4, 2011

Over the last three years, nearly 5 million U.S. workers have effectively gone missing.

You won’t find their photos on the backs of milk cartons. The Coast Guard isn’t out looking for them. No missing-persons reports have been filed. These are jobless Americans who have grown so discouraged by their unsuccessful searches for work that they have simply given up the hunt. They are no longer counted among the 14.5 million Americans officially considered unemployed as of the end of last year, according to the Department of Labor.

Indeed, when the government on Friday delivered its latest monthly snapshot of the labor market for January, which showed the unemployment rate falling to 9 percent, these people — a group larger than the population of Los Angeles — were not even counted. Some are sprinkled into the fine print, counted in categories such as “discouraged workers,” but most are invisible.

The past several months have shown strong signs of improvement in the U.S. economy. Manufacturing expended at the fastest rate in seven years in January, the private sector is adding thousands of jobs, gross domestic product is on the rise. The Economist describes the current profit-reporting season as “shaping up to be one of the best ever.”

Given these indications of improvement, one might expect that those who felt discouraged months ago would resume looking for employment. But the group of Americans who have given up looking for work is larger than ever.

Continue reading at:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/04/missing-workers-44-millio_n_818314.html

Maybe it is time to end Reagan’s legacy of war crimes.

It’s pretty disgraceful that Bush II and so many of his minions could be subject to arrest and trial for war crimes.

From Raw Story: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/bushs-swiss-visit-complaints-torture/

By Reuters
Saturday, February 5th, 2011

GENEVA (Reuters) – Former U.S. President George W. Bush, under fire from human rights group over allegations of ordering torture, has canceled a visit to Switzerland where he was to address a Jewish charity gala.

Bush was to be the keynote speaker at Keren Hayesod’s annual dinner on February 12 in Geneva. But pressure has been building on the Swiss government to arrest him and open a criminal investigation if he enters the Alpine country.

Criminal complaints against Bush alleging torture have been lodged in Geneva, court officials say, and several human rights groups signaled that they were poised to take further legal action this week.

Swiss officials have said that Bush would still enjoy a certain diplomatic immunity as a former head of state. Leftist groups had also called for a protest on the day of his visit.

Keren Hayesod organizers felt the atmosphere had become too threatening because the protests raised the specter of riots that erupted in the Swiss city during the G8 summit in nearby Evian, the group’s lawyer, Robert Equey, told a Swiss daily.

Continue reading at: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/bushs-swiss-visit-complaints-torture/

From Salon: http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/02/04/reagan_aides_ufos/index.html

He often dreamed of the world coming together to battle spacemen, but never gave much thought to an actual killer

By Alex Pareene

Feb 4, 2011

Ronald Reagan claimed to have seen UFOs on at least two occasions, according to reports from sources as disparate as the Wall Street Journal, Lucille Ball and the National Enquirer. He alerted the Navy to one of his sightings, and he and Nancy believed that Egyptian hieroglyphics referenced extraterrestrial flying crafts.

In 1985, at the first summit meeting between Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, Reagan surprised the Soviet premier with this odd line of questioning:

“From the fireside house, President Reagan suddenly said to me, ‘What would you do if the United States were suddenly attacked by someone from outer space? Would you help us?’

Continue reading at:  http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/02/04/reagan_aides_ufos/index.html

From The Media Consortium: http://www.themediaconsortium.org/2011/02/04/weekly-mulch-the-dirty-truth-about-natural-gas-and-energy-innovation/

by Sarah Laskow

February 4, 2011

The argument against natural gas got a boost this week, when a congressional investigation turned up evidence that oil and gas companies were using diesel gas to extract gas from the ground.

Natural gas companies have insisted that their newly popular hydraulic fracturing (known as “fracking”) techniques are safe, but as Care2’s Kristina Chew reports, “environmentalists and regulators have become increasingly concerned that the fracking chemicals—including toluene, xylene and benzene, a carcinogen, which are all from diesel gas—are seeping out into underground sources of drinking water, in violation of the Safe Water Drinking Act.”

The mix-up

The Environmental Protection Agency is conducting an inquiry into the environmental impacts of fracking, and some states are considering more stringent regulations of the practice, including disclosure of the chemicals that go into fracking fluid. Gas companies have argued that the blend of chemicals is a trade secret and must be kept private, but the findings of the congressional investigation suggest otherwise. Eartha Jane Melzer reports at The Michigan Messenger, “In a letter to EPA administrator Lisa Jackson… Reps. Henry Waxman, Edward Markey and Diana DeGette reported that although the EPA requires permits for hydraulic fracturing that involves diesel none of the companies that admitted using diesel have sought or received permits.”

And, as Melzer reports, diesel is the only chemical used in fracking that’s currently regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act. That companies have been sneaking it into the ground does not strengthen the industry’s case for independence.

Continue reading at:  http://www.themediaconsortium.org/2011/02/04/weekly-mulch-the-dirty-truth-about-natural-gas-and-energy-innovation/

From Talking Points Memo: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/02/new-gop-law-would-allow-hospitals-to-let-women-die-instead-of-having-an-abortion.php?ref=fpi

Evan McMorris-Santoro

February 4, 2011

The controversy over “forcible rape” may be over, but now there’s a new Republican-sponsored abortion bill in the House that pro-choice folks say may be worse: this time around, the new language would allow hospitals to let a pregnant woman die rather than perform the abortion that would save her life.

The bill, known currently as H.R. 358 or the “Protect Life Act,” would amend the 2010 health care reform law that would modify the way Obamacare deals with abortion coverage. Much of its language is modeled on the so-called Stupak Amendment, an anti-abortion provision pro-life Democrats attempted to insert into the reform law during the health care debate last year. But critics say a new language inserted into the bill just this week would go far beyond Stupak, allowing hospitals that receive federal funds but are opposed to abortions to turn away women in need of emergency pregnancy termination to save their lives.

The sponsor of H.R. 358, Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA) is a vocal member of the House’s anti-abortion wing. A member of the bipartisan Pro-Life Caucus and a co-sponsor of H.R 3 — the bill that added “forcible rape” to the lexicon this week — Pitts is no stranger to the abortion debate. But pro-choice advocates say his new law goes farther than any other bill has in encroaching on the rights of women to obtain an abortion when their health is at stake. They say the bill is giant leap away from accepted law, and one they haven’t heard many in the pro-life community openly discuss before.

Pitts’ response to the complaints from pro-choice groups? Nothing to see here.

“Since the 1970s, existing law affirmed the right to refuse involvement in abortion in all circumstances,” a spokesperson for Pitts told TPM.

Continue reading at:  http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/02/new-gop-law-would-allow-hospitals-to-let-women-die-instead-of-having-an-abortion.php?ref=fpi

From The Huffington Post:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-white/reagans-true-legacy-termi_b_818722.html

Jane White
Author, “America, Welcome to the Poorhouse”

Posted: February 4, 2011

As Ronald Reagan supporters celebrate his 100th birthday on Feb. 6, it’s astounding how not only the right wing has inflated and distorted his legacy, but most of the so-called liberal media as well.

The inconvenient truth about how Reagan won his first term had nothing to do with his superior game plan but the fact that you had to be crazy to re-elect Jimmy Carter. Carter’s reaction to the repressive Iranian regime that took Americans hostage for 444 days was simultaneously wimpy and self-righteous, implying that our gas-guzzling greed had led to the crisis along with finger-wagging us to turn down our thermostats and drive smaller cars.

On the other hand, while Reagan intolerance for repression apparently scared Iran’s leadership enough to release the hostages shortly after he was elected, his subsequent deregulatory legacy has left our country in economic ruin.

You can thank The Gipper for the birth of the current mortgage crisis. As William Kleinknecht, author of The Man Who Sold the World, put it, Reagan pushed for the elimination of all ceilings on interest rates and restrictions on loans, with his goal to “allow all depository institutions to make the same type of loans in whatever amount they see fit.” The subsequent Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act of 1982 enabled lenders to issue adjustable rate and interest-only mortgages, the drivers of the current mortgage meltdown.

As I pointed out in my book, America, Welcome to the Poorhouse, the blame for runaway home prices also falls on Reagan since he slashed subsidies for low-income housing, making home ownership the only option for low-income families. In 1988 Reagan cut the housing budget to less than $8 billion compared to $32 billion under Carter, resulting in a 90% decrease in construction of new units in one year alone.

Continue reading at:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-white/reagans-true-legacy-termi_b_818722.html

From Talking Points Memo: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/02/new-gop-law-would-allow-hospitals-to-let-women-die-instead-of-having-an-abortion.php?ref=fpi

Evan McMorris-Santoro

February 4, 2011

The controversy over “forcible rape” may be over, but now there’s a new Republican-sponsored abortion bill in the House that pro-choice folks say may be worse: this time around, the new language would allow hospitals to let a pregnant woman die rather than perform the abortion that would save her life.

The bill, known currently as H.R. 358 or the “Protect Life Act,” would amend the 2010 health care reform law that would modify the way Obamacare deals with abortion coverage. Much of its language is modeled on the so-called Stupak Amendment, an anti-abortion provision pro-life Democrats attempted to insert into the reform law during the health care debate last year. But critics say a new language inserted into the bill just this week would go far beyond Stupak, allowing hospitals that receive federal funds but are opposed to abortions to turn away women in need of emergency pregnancy termination to save their lives.

The sponsor of H.R. 358, Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA) is a vocal member of the House’s anti-abortion wing. A member of the bipartisan Pro-Life Caucus and a co-sponsor of H.R 3 — the bill that added “forcible rape” to the lexicon this week — Pitts is no stranger to the abortion debate. But pro-choice advocates say his new law goes farther than any other bill has in encroaching on the rights of women to obtain an abortion when their health is at stake. They say the bill is giant leap away from accepted law, and one they haven’t heard many in the pro-life community openly discuss before.

Continue to read at:  http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/02/new-gop-law-would-allow-hospitals-to-let-women-die-instead-of-having-an-abortion.php?ref=fpi

My mother bought and read the paperback edition of The Feminine Mystique as soon as it was released.  She had read an excerpt in one of the women’s magazines and knew it was a very important book.  As part of her effort to discourage me from pursuing sex reassignment surgery, she insisted I read it.

I was part of the radical generation, everything would be different for us.  Indeed Betty Friedan looked down upon those women who opted out and became part of the Beatnik Generation, the precursor of the alternative culture of young radicals and hippies.

While Betty Friedan’s analysis was limited to a white middle class demographic The Feminine Mystique was more responsible for the Second Wave Feminist revolution than either Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex or any single work by numerous authors such as Shulamith Firestone, Kate Millet or Robin Morgan.

While many of the more radical feminist groups are but a historical memory NOW keeps on fighting the good fight and I keep on paying my annual dues.

From Veteran Feminists of America: http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Happy-Birthday-Betty-Friedan-from-Veteran-Feminists-of-America.html?soid=1101707198155&aid=qPVQmpqf1WI

Forty-seven years after the publication of her world-shaking blockbuster “The Feminine Mystique,” Betty Friedan has hit the front pages again. The recent and somewhat controversial book by Stephanie Coontz, “A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s” has stirred up discussion after heated discussion about Betty’s role as catalyst in the Movement.

But controversy aside, there was another, very personal side to Betty Friedan. As NPR producer Kitty Eisele reminisced on National Public Radio Feb 4, 2006, the day Betty died:

Continue reading at:   http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Happy-Birthday-Betty-Friedan-from-Veteran-Feminists-of-America.html?soid=1101707198155&aid=qPVQmpqf1WI