anythings.org

I couldn’t have put it better myself:

If I had a time machine and could go back to 1968 or 1972 to chew over a thought experiment with one of those old pros, the conversation might go like this:

Violet: Okay, hypothetical situation. Let’s say we’ve got two strong candidates. Candidate A wins the Iowa caucus. Candidate B wins New Hampshire. Then Candidate A catches fire and in February wins a bunch of caucuses and small primaries in mostly Republican states. Racks up the lead in delegates. But then Candidate B comes roaring back and wins New York, California, Massachusetts, Ohio, New Jersey, Texas, Pennsylvania. Who’s the front-runner?
Old Pro from 1968/72: Are you kidding me?
Violet: No, really — who’s the front runner?
Old Pro: Candidate B, of course. What’s the matter with you?
Violet: But Candidate A leads in pledged delegates!
Old Pro: Candidate A is the guy who had a good February? But then loses in all the big states?
Violet: Right.
Old Pro: You’re actually asking me this question?
Violet: But don’t the pledged delegates count?
Old Pro: You’re talking about nominating the guy who lost New York, California, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, and Florida? Jesus! You’re outta your mind!
Violet: But what about his delegates?
Old Pro: Fight it out at the convention if you have to. Geez. That’s what conventions are for. Look, you don’t get to be the nominee because you were popular in February in Utah. For chrissake, if you can’t win the Democratic primaries in California or New York or Massachusetts or Florida or Texas or Ohio or Pennsylvania, you don’t get to be the Democratic nominee. Unless you’re Hubert Humphrey. Wait a minute, Humphrey isn’t still alive, is he?
Violet: No. But the party bosses really love Candidate A. They say Candidate B needs to drop out so Candidate A can be the nominee.
Old Pro: They want the winner of all the big states to drop out so the party favorite from February can be the nominee? Goddamnit, it is Humphrey, isn’t it? Christ, he must be like 100 now.
Violet: No, he’s dead. See, the two candidates we’ve got are both strong. They both have a lot of devoted supporters and they’re really close in pledged delegates and popular votes.
Old Pro: What do their numbers look like against the Republican?
Violet: Close, though when you look at the state-by-state polls and the exit data, Candidate B looks stronger in a match-up against the Republican than Candidate A.
Old Pro: And you’re still asking me who the party needs to nominate?
Violet: Well, the supporters of Candidate A say that if Candidate B will just drop out, then the party will be able to get behind Candidate A.
Old Pro: It is Humphrey!

Me, personally, I don’t understand why everyone is so eager to declare Obama as the Democratic party “front runner.” I don’t want the Democratic presidential candidate for 2008 to be weak in California, Texas, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania… need I go on? That just spells yet another recipe for disaster for the Democratic party, and success for McCain. You’d think the Democratic party would have learned from their mistakes over the past 8 years - but no, they haven’t. What I would absolutely love to see on this year’s ticket would be Clinton for President, and Edwards for Vice President - hell, I’d even go for Obama as VP, especially since that would for sure lock in the vote. Obama isn’t ready to be President, and I think the states he’s won show that he’s not as electable as the fervor surrounding him would like you to think he is.

What kills me the most is when people say “we’re so fucked if Hillary gets the nom.” But, wait, really, are we? She can carry the big states, and if she selects her Vice President carefully, she can get the vote - she already has - without tht much more effort. Barack hasn’t put up a strong showing in any of the states with the most electoral votes. What does that have to say about this strength as a candidate?

Of course, none of this matters to anyone reading this blog, because I’m sure most of you are already for Hillary.

Clinton 2008. Obama 2016. That’s my new platform.

This headline is absolutely grotesque and inexcusable: Victim ‘had sex with captor willingly’

While the contents of the article are a little more divulging with the details than the headline, it’s obvious that the headline was created purely to attract attention and raise a shock factor. Which, congratulations, it has. However, I don’t think it’s the kind of attention any paper wants: degrading a victim’s suffering and her exploiting her experiences while being held captive to get more attention. That’s not ok.

The back story includes many more details than the New Zealand paper. Natascha was kidnapped when she was 10, and escaped when she was 18. During that time, she held captive in a small basement cell with no windows and a locked door, with books to keep her company (after the first two years anyways). She was also beaten and coerced into taking sexually explicit photographs and having sex with her captor. While the dynamics of a situation such as this are never simple, it more complicated than a victim having sex with their captor “willingly”. Putting the word willingly in air quotes doesn’t make it ok, and it’s not enough to explain the multi-layered situation that exists here.

From The New Zealand Herald:

Austrian police are at the centre of a storm after interrogation reports were leaked showing that the kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch admitted she “willingly” had sex with her captor, Wolfgang Priklopil.

She also indicated that Priklopil - who killed himself in the hours following her escape - had accomplices; something she later denied. And the papers also reveal she was examined by a gynaecologist and left a suspicion that she may have become pregnant by Priklopil while in captivity, prompting speculation in Austrian and German media that she had a baby while being held. […]

The newspaper Heute received witness statements testifying about Priklopil’s love of S and M and how he routinely hurt females dressed as schoolgirls. Photographs of Kampusch being used as a sex slave by her kidnapper were hidden by police.

In the leaked documents, Sabine Freudenberger, the first person to interview Kampusch at the police station, said: “I only really asked her three questions - whether she had had sex with her kidnapper, how it is that after all this time she seemed to be so educated and whether there were accomplices.

“She admitted that she had had sex with him and that she had done that voluntarily. She had been given books by him to read, could listen to the radio and was given videos to see. When asked if there were any accomplices she said: `I do not know any names.”‘

Of course the photos of Natascha being used as a sex slave were hidden by the police, they had every right to hide those photos. She was a victim.

I think that interviewer needs some sensitivity training if you ask me. My three questions would not be if she had sex with him and how is it that she became so educated! Those questions were asked at the curiosity of the office, not out of necessity for the investigation. While it may have been relevant to ask is she was raped or had been subject to any type of sexual assault, asking a victim if their captor had sex with them is an entirely different question: it implies that the victim had a choice in the matter and that there was some enjoyment to be gained from the experience.

Disgusting!

Via The Curvature.

With Hillary winning last night’s primary in Pennsylvania, I think the naysayers who told Hillary to leave the race should be feeling a little more than stupid right now. While I’m sure their decision to ask her to remove herself from the race was based on their opinion that Barack is a better candidate, I feel it’s unfair (and immature) to ask someone to remove themself from a Democratic process just because you don’t like them. Maybe there is even a little fear in them asking Hillary to remove herself - maybe, just maybe they’re afraid she might win and that their golden boy will have lost.

Quite frankly, I will get behind whichever candidate is up for the general election in November. I’ve stated time and time again that I prefer Hillary because of my personal political motivations. I understand why some people don’t agree with her politics, but the biggest problem I have with anti-Hillary people is that they dislike her for other reasons not related to her abilities as a candidate or her political opinions.

The bottom line is both Hillary and Barack are not liberal. They are liberals when you compare them to McCain, but they are still both fairly conservative politicians. I know that my dream candidate will never run for president of this country because I am far too liberal and left-wing for enough Americans to get behind a candidate that I can whole-heartedly support, without any reservations.

This election has, without a doubt, put stress on a lot of my friendships. Many people in my age group and in my office are pro-Barack and anti-Hillary - which I think is an important distinction from being a Barack supporter. They are anti-Hillary in that they attack her for reasons that I don’t feel are relevant to her abilities as a potential president of our country. While I accept some things as humor and as attempts at jokes, the problem is, the majority of the negative things said about Hillary aren’t funny: they’re sexist, rude, and downright irrelevant in a presidential election. I have very few negative things to say about Barack, and I feel that they negative things I do have to say are relevant to his abilities as a presidential candidate. I spent a long time reviewing the issues and abilities of each candidate before I made my choice. I am comfortable enough with my choice that I have donated to Hillary’s campaign several times.

While this election is far from over, it is still a competition, it is still a race. There is no clear winner right now, despite the fact that Barack’s camp is using the argument that they have more of the popular vote. That’s the way the Democratic caucuses and primaries work: you can’t blame your party’s procedures for your own lack of a clear victory. I don’t like the winner-take-all mentality behind Republican primaries and the general election: it makes an individual feel like their vote counts less and less.

The bottom line for me, as a Democrat, is that I know we won’t have a candidate until August. And I’m ok with that. I can wait.

Regardless of everything that will happen after today, you have to admit Barack’s “loss” in Pennsylvania despite spending twice what Hillary did makes the victory only a little more important for the Clinton camp.

Peace Over Violence is proud to present the 10th Annual Denim Day USA 2008, a campaign to raise awareness and educate the public about rape and sexual assault. It takes place on Wednesday April 23, 2008.

In 1998, an Italian Supreme Court decision overturned a rape conviction because the victim wore jeans. People all over the world were outraged. Wearing jeans became an international symbol of protest against erroneous and destructive attitudes about sexual assault.

Last year, on Denim Day an unprecedented 300,000 people signed up to wear jeans in support of raising awareness about the need to end sexual violence. This year we aim to at least double that amount.

This day in the schools, offices and streets of Los Angeles County we unite against rape of girls, women, boys and men. We stand in support of survivors. We break the silence to end sexual violence.

On Denim Day USA wear your jeans as a visible sign of protest against the myths that still surround sexual assault!

What can you do to make Denim Day USA a success?

• Wear Jeans on April 23, 2008.
• Tell your friends, family and colleagues to wear jeans
• Sign up and receive our Denim Day USA Action Kit.
• Donate Dollars for Denim.

Make a Difference

• When you participate in Denim Day USA on April 23, 2008 you:
• Make it possible for more survivors of sexual assault to reach out and find help.
• Promote prevention through education so that sexual violence doesn’t occur in the first place.
• Encourage men and boys to understand that strength is not for hurting, and the critical role they play in preventing violence against women.
• Encourage institutional and societal change.

Get Started

Please register as a participant and we will send you out a packet of Denim Day material. If you have more than 500 participants, we ask that you come to our offices and pick up your material if at all possible. Everything is also downloadable from the Denim Day USA website by clicking here. Thank You!

No, in case you were wondering, this is not ok. In fact, it’s downright embarrassing that a human being would find it acceptable to create and publish this.

There are no words!

I mean, even if you aren’t a Hillary supporter, you have to be able to get behind how ridiculous this is. An article - and a cover, no less - devoted entirely to “Hillaryland’s Fatal Psychodrama”? You’re joking, right? Are we 12?

Larger image here.

Via.

I read this on DollyMix last week, and I thought I posted it already, but apparently not. The incident which state-side feminist blogs have only now just gotten wind of actually occurred early last week, but we’ll let them pretend they were the first to blog it even though they’re presenting the facts inaccurately.

As I’m sure many of you have already heard, a London mayoral candidate, Richard Barnbrook (via mouthpiece Nick Eriksen), likened the idea of a woman being raped to a woman being force-fed chocolate cake. While I’m not surprised this quote came from the same man that described career women as “unnatural and vile”, I’m sincerely shocked he actually thought putting it into bring on his blog would be a good idea. A direct quote from his blog said:

“I’ve never understood why so many men have allowed themselves to be brainwashed by the feminazi myth machine into believing that rape is such a serious crime… Rape is simply sex (I am talking about ‘husband-rape’ here)… Women enjoy sex, so rape cannot be such a terrible physical ordeal…To suggest that rape, when conducted without violence, is a serious crime is like suggesting force-feeding a woman chocolate cake is a heinous offence.

The demonisation of rape is all part of the feminazi desire to obtain power and mastery over men. Men who go along with the rape myth are either morons or traitors.”

Now, while he was talking about spousal rape, he is still completely off his rocker. So, following his logic: if men enjoy sex, and they are raped (anally, by another man) it can’t possibly be that traumatizing or that terrible of a crime, now can it? You can’t use the excuse that it’s a different type of sexual act: sex is sex, rape is rape, regardless of where you happened to be penetrated and what with.

I thought misogyny of this obscenely blatant nature by politicians was going out of style? Apparently, I was wrong.

From:

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia is the first state to mandate that public schools offer Internet safety classes for all grade levels — and it’s one of many measures being taken nationally to protect young Web users.

Virginia’s requirement initially stemmed from concerns about sex offenders preying on children online and a general increase in Internet-based crime. It took effect this school year.

In a recent presentation at a suburban Richmond high school, Virginia assistant attorney general Gene Fishel flashed an online social-networking profile a 15-year-old who says she enjoys being around boys and wants to meet new people. The real profile user turned out to be a 31-year-old man convicted of sexually abusing 11 children he met online and sentenced to a 45-year prison term.

A 2006 study by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children showed that about 13 percent of Internet users ages 10 to 17 received unwanted sexual solicitations.

All I have to say is GOOD, and maybe FINALLY. With so many kids using sites like MySpace, I’m sure that percentage of internet users 10-17 who have received unwanted sexual solicitations has gone up.

Is it just me, or does this make you feel old? Do you remember back in the day when you would go into the Yahoo! Chat rooms and someone would send you a message asking what you’re wearing or if you were in the mood to get frisky? I know chat rooms aren’t the thing anymore - and good thing, too, because they were kind of creepy - but places like MySpace are just as bad, if not worse. Innocent unaware teens are posting pictures of themselves with their friends at the beach, school, or wherever else, and someone is using those pictures and the information in their profiles to stalk them.

I personally do not have a MySpace - anymore. I used to have one a few years back before I transferred to UC Davis and got onto Facebook, but once I got onto Facebook and enjoyed the privilege of privacy, I never turned back. Eventually, I deleted my MySpace, and I wasn’t surprised when I logged in and found several messages from men I did not know that were extremely explicit. Sure, I reported them to MySpace, but we all know how well that works.

All in all, I think every state should mandate internet safety lessons for children in public school ages 13 and up. While I would discourage the lessons from making them paranoid, knowing basic safety tips and how to keep your real identity and location a secret are just as valuable as the ability to be able to read or write.

This is disgusting and beyond reproach:

A man who admitted giving a woman a fatal dose of “date rape” drug during his alleged drive to have sex with 100 women was sentenced Friday to five years in prison during a hearing that exposed the stark emotions of his victim’s family.

John F. Berger, 38, of St. Louis, was sentenced in the death on April 7, 2002, of Tressa Gross, 26, whom he had met earlier that evening at a club on Washington Avenue. On Nov. 30, he pleaded guilty in a deal that included the five-year sentence.

Prosecutors said they had evidence Berger wanted to have sex with 100 women, was close to his goal and had given similar drugs to other women. Berger wasn’t charged until November 2006.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry accepted the five-year term, of which he must serve at least four, and added five years of probation with mandatory drug and mental health treatment. She ordered him to pay Sandy Murray, Gross’ mother, the $5,622 cost of her daughter’s funeral. Murray was not in court.

Berger admitted he gave Gross cocaine and the “date rape” drug before having sex with her at a downtown loft, where she lost consciousness. He also said he disposed of the drugs before asking a friend to call an ambulance.

The St. Louis medical examiner determined in July 2002 that Gross died of an overdose of 1.4 butanediol, which converts to Gamma-hydroxybutyric, or GHB, in the body. GHB can cause drowsiness, loss of inhibition, amnesia and — at higher doses — breathing trouble and death.

How is it that a man who admits to raping and letting a woman die only serves 5 years in prison? That’s not right, and it’s definitely not justice for the victim.

The Report IT Campaign is a nationwide state-to-state rally to Report sexual violence and abuse on the same day! It was created to raise awareness on the vast under-reporting of sexual assault including rape, incest, and abuse.

We will all Report IT on the same day - April 29, 2008 hailed Angela Shelton Day. People nationwide will show up at their local county courthouses on April 29th! Together we will break the silence and the cycle! You can fill out the online form anytime on or before April 29th. Thank you! This IS NOT an official police report!

Click here or on the image to visit the official website.

The past few months, the media has been overrun with stories relating to rapes that have been covered up by the military and KBR (and KBR, again), immigration officials, and many more. The coverage of rape myths has continued to remain popular, despite the thousands of women who have experienced otherwise. Stories have been released that tell us just how frighteningly common rape and sexual assault are in the military, even though we all know that the majority of sexual assaults go unreported, even though it is extremely frequent.

And you know what? I’m sick of it. Sick of the fear, the stigma, and the trauma all associated with rape. Sick of the guilt, sick of the terrible media coverage, sick of people blaming the victim. And you know why this happens? Do you? Because if you don’t, I do.

When companies like KBR discover that their employees are being victimized and violently attacked, they have the opportunity to do one of two things:

1. Take a stand for their employees and fight like hell for their rights. Assist them in the investigation and prosecution of the offender(s), and provide them with paid medical leave and access to trained rape crisis professionals, free of charge. Accept that you are responsible for what happened to them and reach an agreement with them privately.
2. Cower like idiots, take absolutely no responsibility for the crimes, discourage them from reporting it, force them to sign agreements taking away their constitutional right to a jury trial, and make them feel so much shame and guilt that they can no longer function physically or emotionally.

KBR, of course, being a huge, rich, and wealthy company, opted for route #2. Despite the fact that they have the money to help these women prosecute the offenders and the resources to provide them with help when they return home, they neglected to take care of their employees. They decided to force these women into arbitration so they don’t have pay exorbitant punitive damages to the victims if these charges were sent to a jury. Because, really, let’s be honest: if these cases went to trial, the circumstances are not in their favor. While the offenders may not be convicted, the women would most likely win in civil court.

But KBR knows just how many zeros can follow the number 1, and they didn’t want to take any risks. Instead of taking the high road and setting examples for corporations across America, they took the low road and continued to victimize their employees by not allowing them access to justice. It’s sick, and it’s wrong, not to mention cruel and inhumane.

But back to the point. All of this happens, the lack of reporting, the believing in rape myths, and the blaming of the victim because of the very public actions taken by KBR. If you are a 16 year old girl and you happen to stumble upon the story of one of these KBR rapes, what will you think? Will you think it’s safe to bring rape charges up on someone? Will you think the law is on your side? Will you think people will believe you? No, you won’t. And you won’t report your rape, and you won’t seek help. You will live your life in fear and shame, and you probably won’t even tell your friends what happened to you.

Rape is the dirty crime - it’s a crime associated with shame and dishonor. If you walk outside and discover your car is stolen, you report it. If you wake up and your house is on fire, you report it. If you are walking home from a night class and you are raped, you report it.

If you have been a victim of sexual assault, rape, or domestic violence, I urge you to REPORT IT NOW! April 29, 2008 is Angela Shelton Day: a day where victims come together, break the silence, and transform themselves into survivors.