Betsy DeVos tries to shame teachers on Twitter, gets taken to school instead.

Does this look familiar? Students lined up in rows. A teacher in front of a blackboard. Sit down; don’t talk; eyes up front. Wait for the bell. Walk to the next class. Everything about our lives has moved beyond the industrial era. But American education largely hasn’t. #SXSWEDU pic.twitter.com/kyy2r7bTud

— Betsy DeVos (@BetsyDeVosED) March 6, 2018

Okay now those images look exactly like the classrooms that I sat in while I attended elementary school way back in the 1960's.

However I also fairly recently worked in public schools and I know something that apparently Betsy DeVos, the actual Secretary of Education, does not.

Here let some real teachers do a little educating.

Don’t you know that stock photos aren’t real? How many classrooms have you visited in the past year? Classrooms don’t look like that anymore. Students don’t work like that anymore. I would think that as Sec of Edu you would be celebrating us, not putting us down. #Bye pic.twitter.com/GPDr1aS7vp

— Teresa Hurtado (@MissHurtad0KISD) March 6, 2018

Ok, first of all, give Stock Photo teacher some credit, she has the whole class eager to share. (Her biggest problem, tbh, is the lack of decorations. Put a poster up on your stock photo walls!) Secondly, this is a real, public school classroom right here: pic.twitter.com/sU8hYnn7SY

— PostMalonialism (@Mr_Orlopp) March 7, 2018

No. It doesn't look familiar. THIS is what public school looks like. pic.twitter.com/OYYrXvIRq2

— LPG (@puckettgarcia) March 7, 2018

Damn teachers do not play when you insult the progress they have made in their teaching methods and classroom atmospheres.

But this last tweet really put the nail in Miss Betsy's coffin.

Meanwhile at the DeVos funded West Michigan Aviation School... pic.twitter.com/8Dutpd43iZ

— Kristen Famiano (@kfam) March 6, 2018

Now THAT is the kind of burn which leaves a lasting mark right there.

So it appears that Trump's Education Secretary not only got school by the Parkland students, but our amazing public school teachers as well.

Good choice there Donnie!

Justin Trudeau fights back tears as he apologizes to the indigenous people of Canada for their horrendous treatment they suffered at the hands of the government.

Justin Trudeau fought back tears as he apologized for Canada's role in mistreatment of Indigenous children in residential schools. pic.twitter.com/zEjGH2AOQP

— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) November 24, 2017

I was really touched by this video as it brings up our shame as Alaskans for how we treated our own indigenous people.

The white man's government, often using religion as a bludgeon, tore families apart and demanded that native children only call each other by the Biblical names given to them by Christian missionaries/educators and were punished for speaking their own language, or for being slow to adapt to western culture.

The destruction of the native people's sense of identity and connection to their culture was horrific, and is often cited as one of the main causes for suicide and alcoholism even among today's population. 

This shame that Prime Minister Trudeau speaks of is shame that should be shared among the people of Alaska, as well as the people living in the Lower 48.

Our ancestors all participated in the destruction of the history and culture of the people that were here when we arrived, and we have yet to really make amends for what we did.

Much like the Trump White House the RNC is shedding staff at an amazing rate as well.

Courtesy of Politico: 

Sara Armstrong, the top staffer at the Republican National Committee, is departing, according to three people familiar with the move — the latest in a string of exits from the committee. 

Armstrong, the RNC's chief of staff, is exiting to take a senior-level job at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. She had been serving in the chief of staff role since early this year after helping to oversee President Donald Trump's inauguration planning.

Armstrong is the sixth staffer to leave the RNC in just over a month. That includes a handful of aides in the committee’s data department who left recently amid a change in departmental leadership. The wave of departures, coming less than a year after the 2016 election, has surprised the tight-knit world of Republican operatives.

This of course reflects a similar situation as the White House which is losing staff, even high level staff, almost daily it seems.

Is there a connection?

Hells yeah there's a connection.

Courtesy of McClatchy:

Interviews with a dozen Republican operatives and activists around the country revealed genuine frustration—and for some, disgust—over Trump’s repeated suggestions that there is an equivalence between the neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan members and white supremacists who marched in Virginia this weekend, and those who turned out to protest them, even as a woman died after a white supremacist rammed a car into a group of the counter-protesters. 

“He is destroying the GOP one day at a time, one reckless statement and action at a time,” said Sally Bradshaw, a longtime adviser to Jeb Bush who co-authored the “autopsy” report and went on to leave the party over Trump. “Why would anyone consider supporting a political party when the leader of the party is anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-woman, and anti-black? He makes me sick.”

In the past the GOP would trot out the image of Ronald Reagan as the party's standard bearer, but the election of Donald Trump changed all of that and now they are forever tied to  a pussy grabbing, incompetent, racist, Nazi sympathizer.

And trust me Donald Trump will feature prominently in ads touting Democratic candidates for decades to come.

That is a party I would run screaming in the streets from as well.

Joel Osteen claims he did not open his megachurch to flood victims until he was shamed on social media because the city did not ask him to.

Not even Jesus would buy into this and he's the forgiving sort pic.twitter.com/LBnnHIKRAh

— Michele (@inthefade) August 30, 2017

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

Pastor Joel Osteen can’t seem to get his story straight about why he didn’t offer his 16,800-seat megachurch in Houston as a shelter sooner for those displaced by Hurricane Harvey. 

During an appearance on NBC’s “TODAY” show Wednesday, the head of Lakewood Church said its doors have “always been open.” Minutes later, he appeared to reverse course and admit that the church hadn’t initially encouraged victims to seek shelter there.

WATCH: “We were just being precautious, but the main thing is the city didn’t ask us to become a shelter then.” -Pastor @JoelOsteen pic.twitter.com/Qdn5vgm09H

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) August 30, 2017

“If people were here, they’d realize there were safety issues,” Osteen said during the TV appearance. “We were just being precautious, but the main thing is the city didn’t ask us to become a shelter then.”

Dozens of Houston-area churches, schools and community centers opened their doors to offer temporary shelter to survivors as Hurricane Harvey pummeled the city earlier this week.

First off "precautious" is not a word.

And secondly what a load of bullshit.

For several days this Lakewood Church and its pastor were shamed on social media to open their doors and help those who desperately needed a warm dry place to stay.

Only THEN did they do anything to help.

Did Jesus refuse to multiply the loaves and fishes until somebody called him out on Twitter?

Did Moses only part the Red Sea after being shamed for sitting on his ass on Instagram?

Actually neither of those things actually happened, but you get my point.

If you are going to call yourself a Christian, and preach to people that they should love and care for each other, while accepting millions of dollars in donations, then shouldn't you at least PRETEND that you embrace the teachings of Jesus Christ?

Some Liberty University graduates returning their diplomas because of their school's support for the Nazi sympathizer in the White House.

White House Nazi with Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr..

Courtesy of NPR: 

A group of alumni from one of the country's most influential evangelical Christian universities is condemning their school's president for his continued alignment with President Trump. 

A small but growing number of Liberty University graduates are preparing to return diplomas to their school. The graduates are protesting university President Jerry Falwell Jr.'s ongoing support for Trump. They began organizing after Trump's divisive remarks about the deadly white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Va. 

Chris Gaumer, a former Student Government Association president and 2006 graduate, said it was a simple decision. 

"I'm sending my diploma back because the president of the United States is defending Nazis and white supremacists," Gaumer said. "And in defending the president's comments, Jerry Falwell Jr. is making himself and, it seems to me, the university he represents, complicit."

I believe this marks the first time that I have EVER supported a decision made by a graduate of Liberty University, EVER.

BTW this was Falwell's tweet after Trump made those disastrous comments concerning there being "fine people on both sides" of those protests in Charlottesville.

Finally a leader in WH. Jobs returning, N Korea backing down, bold truthful stmt about #charlottesville tragedy.So proud of @realdonaldtrump

— Jerry Falwell (@JerryFalwellJr) August 16, 2017

Perhaps now is a good time to remember that Falwell Sr. founded the Moral Majority to fight against desegregation, not to fight abortion as is it is often remembered today.

North Carolina church threatens repercussions against woman for getting gay married, despite fact she has not attended the church for 15 years.

Courtesy of LGBTQ Nation: 

Upon learning that one of their former members, Kelly Toney, is in a loving, committed marriage with another woman, the church took it upon themselves to intervene. 

It didn’t matter that Kelly hadn’t actually attended the church in a decade and a half. 

The letter calls for Kelly to see the light, admit her sins, divorce her wife — essentially turn her happy, loving life completely upside-down so that it fits with one subjective interpretation of an ancient text. 

“If there is no willingness on your part to receive this appeal and display repentance and abandonment of this area of open immorality,” the church writes, “then the Church will have no choice but to take appropriate and prayerful action to address the standing of your fellowship with this Body at such a time that will be determined by the leadership and members of this congregation.”

Apparently this church is kind of like the Mafia. You don't quit them, they quit you.

How arrogant must you be to think that you can destroy a woman's relationship, shame her into denying her sexuality, and then convince her to rejoin your congregation after fifteen years?

I'm sorry I forgot, she's just a woman. And according to the Bible she really does not have an opinion until a man tells her what it is.

Ted Cruz campaign sends mailer attempting to shame people into caucusing in Iowa.

Courtesy of The Daily Beast:

On Friday night, images began circulating from an Iowa resident showing a mailer from Ted Cruz’s campaign shaming people into going to caucus on Monday. 

An image of the mailer, yellow with an all-caps header in red reading “Voting Violation,” was shared on Twitter by Tom Hinkeldey of Alta, Iowa. He said he was inspired to caucus on Monday for Marco Rubio instead as a result of the cloying mailer. 

The text on the manila envelope-looking piece read: “You are receiving this election notice because of low expected voter turnout in your area. Your individual voting history as well as your neighbors’ are public record. Their scores are published below, and many of them will see your score as well. CAUCUS ON MONDAY TO IMPROVE YOUR SCORE and please encourage your neighbors to caucus as well. A follow-up notice may be issued following Monday’s caucuses.” 

In addition to this, the mailer listed Hinkeldey’s wife’s name as well as a group of his neighbors, all of whom, according to the mailer, get ‘F’ grades for their voting history.

According to the Iowa Secretary of State the mailers misrepresent Iowa election law.

Not only that but the guy who brought this mailer to attention of the media, Tom Hinkeldey, responded in this way. 

I am not sure if there will be any consequences to the Cruz campaign for distributing private information like this to people's neighbors, but there should be.

Sadly it appears that the Cruz campaign might have been inspired by a similar incident that happened up here in Alaska back in 2014.

Great. You know when I say I want Alaska to lead the nation, this is NOT what I have in mind.

Raw Story article explains why it is really the conservative Christians who are responsible for the majority of abortions in this country.

The article used their own picture of Bristol by way of illustration, but I like this one better.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

America’s high rate of abortion can be directly attributed to conservative Christianity’s obsession with controlling and suppressing sexuality. 

The most effective way to reduce abortion is to de-stigmatize sexuality, improve sexual education, and ensure broad access to excellent contraceptives. In the highly secular Netherlands, this formula has knocked abortion down to 7 per 1000 women annually, one third the U.S. rate.

That is obviously a valid point which is hard to argue with, if you rely on logic that is.  Which of course we all know is not how fundamentalists frame their argument.

Raw Story then goes on to lay out four aspects of conservative Christianity which promotes accidental pregnancies:

1) Pro-natalism. One of Christianity’s competitive strategies is to drive up the birth rate of believers. The Old Testament describes an estimated 1.2 million deaths at the hand of Yahweh or his servants, which makes it hard to argue that Christianity is pro-life. It is, however, pro-birth. Be fruitful and multiply, says the writer of Genesis (Genesis 1:28); Women will be saved through childbearing, echoes a New Testament writer centuries later (1 Timothy 2:15). Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation, bluntly put it in his own words: “If a woman grows weary and at last dies from childbearing, it matters not. Let her only die from bearing; she is there to do it.”Treating women as breeders, a strategy for increasing adherents, is at the heart of the Catholic anti-contraceptive stance and the Protestant Quiverfull movement. Historically, these attitudes may have driven up the number of Christians, but thanks to the Religious Right meddling in politics and education, today they drive up accidental pregnancy and abortion for Americans across the religious spectrum.

Remember during the time of the Bible, and in the early years of the church, religious, economic, and military superiority was a numbers game. The more babies you made, the more Christians you could send into battle, work on your farms, and spread your religion.

2) Obsession with Sexual Sin. “Mama’s baby, papa’s maybe”–we all know what it means. By the Iron Age, when Judaism emerged, the male determination to know which babies were whose had taken the form of men owning women. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. (Exodus 20:17) Women caught in adultery (or missing their hymens) were killed by the ancient Hebrews, just as they are by conservative Muslims today.Christianity’s obsession with sexual sin or rather with female virginity has produced the American purity myth, which makes candid conversations and education about sexuality a challenge. 

In modern times this of course has led to abstinence only education and the shaming of women for allowing boys into their beds before they are wed. Women may no longer be property, but according to conservative Christians they should still know their place.

3) Emphasis on Righteousness over Compassion. Traditional Christianity is about right belief. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. (Acts 16:31). (Contrast this with the central virtue of Buddhism, ahimsa, or non-harm.) The focus on being right has caused Christianity to fracture into over 38,000 denominations. But schism is just one of many negative consequences that come from valuing right belief over compassionate living. Many believers would rather be right (and righteous) than loving. They’d rather be right than solve problems. They would rather condemn abortion from a position of righteous superiority than solve the complicated conditions that cause women to terminate pregnancies. They’d rather judge from the sidelines than get their hands dirty.

I don't think I really need to add anything more to that.

4) Structuring Society for Fantasy Perfect Humans Rather than Real Humans. In the ideal fantasy world of Evangelical Christianity, teenagers wouldn’t have sex. In fact nobody would ever have sex unless they were married and ready to have a baby. In this fantasy world all we need to do is teach teens to abstain (and then shame and punish the ones who don’t) and voila, teen pregnancy will go away. This is the worldview that produced the painful story of Bristol Palin, who earned a quarter of a million dollars promoting abstinence only to find herself awkwardly announcing a second pregnancy.In the real world, the most dramatic improvements in teen pregnancy and family flourishing come when young people have excellent information about their own bodies and access to top tier contraceptives.

And now you know why they chose Bristol for their  abstinence only example at the top of their article.

Of course Bristol is by no means an accurate example of what most young unwed mothers go through after giving birth. Her famous name and access to well paying job opportunities have kept her off of the streets, and out of minimum paying jobs, though it seems just barely.

However I think most of us believe that Bristol's lack of proper sex education have resulted in far more brushes with pregnancy than have ever been made public.

Which in some ways makes her perhaps the perfect example of the dangers of a conservative Christian message about sex.

Revisiting Canada's (And Alaska's) cultural genocide.

If you are disturbed by that video, you should probably know that the exact same destruction of the native culture happened right here in Alaska:

Several generations of Native people — many of whom are still alive today — would become targets of a tragic, frequently successful campaign of cultural elimination. Demanding that Natives abandon the cultures and languages of their grandfathers and grandmothers, Natives were given a clear message that one way of looking at the world was superior to the other. That the survivors did as they were told — abandoning their feasts and ceremonials, their dances and even their languages — is testament not to the correctness of the Western message but to the survivors' states of mind. Having lost multitudes of spiritual and political leaders, artisans, historians, and elders, those who were left were orphans — spiritually as well as physically — destined to live in a world of emotional and material poverty. 

In the schoolhouses and boarding schools, in the churches and in the orphanages, Native children would learn how to become good Christians and good Americans. 

What they really learned was to be ashamed of their language, they were often beaten for using it, and to become reliant on the whites that invaded their lands and stole from them their way of life, self reliance, and sense of pride. 

The federal government also restricted when they could fish and hunt, making their traditional subsistence lifestyle all but impossible.

When you see a homeless native on the streets of Anchorage, you have to realize that that is not a choice they made for themselves. That was what they were reduced to after their culture was all but destroyed, and alcohol and drugs were the only things that seemed to ease their pain.

There has been a great effort in the last few decades by Alaska, and its native people, to put things right.

But the reality is that the damage done by the interference of outsiders, first the Russians and then Americans, has caused deep and potentially irreparable damage to the Alaska native culture.

In that way Canada and Alaska have much in common.

Indiana woman sentenced to 20 years in prison for feticide. The inevitable result of aggressive anti-abortion laws.

Courtesy of New York Magazine:  

In a ruling that’s already caused uproar across the country, Purvi Patel was sentenced on Monday to 20 years in prison for committing feticide. Patel, a 33-year-old woman from Indiana, was accused of illegally inducing her own abortion and subsequently having a baby she allowed to die. Last July, Patel visited an emergency room with severe bleeding and eventually told doctors she’d miscarried. When questioned about the location of the fetal remains, she said she was unsure what to do, so she wrapped the fetal remains in a bag and threw the bag in a Dumpster. Patel was then living with her conservative Hindu parents and in a relationship with a married co-worker, which helps explain why she felt it necessary to hide the pregnancy and dispose of the remains so quickly. 

While Patel has maintained that she miscarried and delivered a stillborn baby, prosecutors insisted that she induced a late-term abortion with pills she ordered on the internet and gave birth to a living fetus that died almost instantly. A toxicology report produced no evidence of such drugs in her system, but prosecutors pointed to texts Patel exchanged with a friend in which she claimed to have ordered pills from a pharmacy in Hong Kong. Because the age of the fetus was heavily contested, it’s possible that had she gotten a prescription for the pills in the U.S., the pregnancy termination (if that’s what happened) would have been legal. It remains illegal to order such pills online. 

If Patel did self-induce an abortion, it’s essential to understand the legal restrictions she faced as a resident of Indiana. The state has only 11 abortion clinics and an exhaustive list of abortion restrictions. Indiana prohibits certain qualified health-care professionals from performing abortions, restricts young women’s access to abortion by requiring parental consent, subjects abortion providers to targeted (and burdensome) regulations not applied to other medical professionals, subjects women to biased counseling and mandatory delays, has passed unconstitutional bans on abortion, prohibits certain state employees and organizations with state funding from referring women to abortion services, restricts access to other reproductive health care, and restricts low-income women’s access to abortion.

The article goes on to question the case against Patel, including expert medial testimony that at 24 weeks the fetus was not viable, and would have died even if born alive. 

What we as a country need to recognize is that if the Republicans get their way this will become a much more common occurrence, and soon women will be arrested for miscarriages that happen even during the first trimester of their pregnancy, without any evidence of wrongdoing on the mother's part.

In the conservative world women were created to give life. And failing that biological imperative, they have no real value.

And in their world the fetus is the most precious of all lives, far more important than the life of a woman who cannot even manage get pregnant or give birth correctly.

That is why their focus is not only making it impossible to get an abortion, but even doing away with birth control itself.

The women of "Funny or Die" apologize for that craptastic "Apology" anti-abortion ad featuring overbearing Christian men.

You all may recognize Baldy McControl Women's Vajajays there from my post last weekend.

I had a lot of fun pointing out how absurd it was for these men to be apologize for not forcing women to give birth to their demonic offspring.

And now the brilliant folks over at Funny or Die have also weighed in on the advertisement as well.

This from Jezebel:  

"I watched a terrible video," the first woman, Amanda One, says. 

 "I watched a very insulting video," offers Jennifer. 

"It's a bad video," says Amanda Two. 

The FOD ladies point out that the guys aren't the ones who actually had abortions and it's kind of ... odd?... that they insist that they did. 

"I didn't have an abortion," Amanda Two says. "And I wouldn't say that I had an abortion if I didn't personally have an abortion." 

"I'm sorry that video exists," Amanda One says. 

"I'm sorry it's so easy to make videos," Jennifer agrees. 

"Any fool can just grab a camera, say some stuff and make some women feel bad," Amanda Two says pensively.

The women go on to point out that the men were specific enough about their past female partners for some to possibly identify who they were talking about,  and that they might suffer embarrassment or harassment because of that.

Not that these men care. After all for them it is all about the fetus.

Here is the Funny or Die video. Enjoy.

Sorry: The Women’s Apology from Funny Or Die

New anti-abortion campaign features Christian men crying over the abortions they "allowed" their past lovers to get.

Courtesy of TPM:  

In a video entitled "The Apology," three Christian men apologize to women for allowing them to have an abortion and for not putting up a fight "for the opportunity to save a child." 

The video, released by the faith-based Heroic Media, begins with melancholy music and features three men who lament that women in their lives have had abortions. 

"I conceded to an abortion," Pastor Shane Idleman says. "That decision still haunts me today." 

Against a montage of giggling, joyful children and babies, the men discuss how much they regret the decision and take responsibility for letting down God, women and their unborn children. 

"I should've manned up and I should've fought for you and -- I didn't," John Blandford says. "I didn't." 

Then come the apologies to all women who have had an abortion, women who have been "subjected to such a terrible thing," women who "no one tried to rescue," and women who have "tried to hide this from everyone." 

You know as entertaining as it is to watch these men faking an emotional breakdown in order to pressure women into having babies that they are unable, or unwilling to care for, the part they seem to be forgetting is that unless they were married to these women there was no "conceding" to the abortion. That decision was up to the person who was pregnant, not the man too careless to even wear a condom.

And as for all that apologizing to women at the end for the fact that they were allowed to get abortions, are you kidding me?

I have known a number of women over the years who have had abortions, and I can honestly say that for the vast majority of them they don't even think about it anymore, and all went on to have healthy happy families when they felt they were ready to do so.

As I have written before I was once instrumental in helping a high school friend go to the clinic to get an abortion (It wasn't mine.), and I never once felt it was my right to suggest what she should do with her body, and the tiny life that was growing within.

And neither did these men. That is unless they were willing to marry the women and offer to help raise the as yet unborn the child. Which, it sounds to me, was not something they were willing to offer.

So essentially these men are faking emotional suffering over the fact that they did not force a woman they knocked up to give birth to their offspring before they skipped town and left her with all of the responsibilities.

If they really wanted to take responsibility for their actions, the time to have done that was BEFORE they had unprotected sex and put these women in a position where they had to make the choice of whether to have their little bastard or not.

Damn, there is some serious arrogance on display here.

Woman describes why keeping her virginity until her wedding night was the worst decision of her life.

Courtesy of XO Jane:  

For more than a decade, I wore my virginity like a badge of honor. My church encouraged me to do so, saying my testimony would inspire other young girls to follow suit. If the topic ever came up in conversation, I was happy to let people know that I had taken a pledge of purity. 

It became my entire identity by the time I hit my teen years. When I met my then boyfriend-now husband, I told him right away that I was saving myself for marriage and he was fine with that because it was my body, my choice and he loved me.

The author managed to keep the promise she made to God to remain a virgin until her wedding night. However things did not go as she anticipated.  

I lost my virginity on my wedding night, with my husband, just as I had promised that day when I was 10 years old. I stood in the hotel bathroom beforehand, wearing my white lingerie, thinking, "I made it. I'm a good Christian." There was no chorus of angels, no shining light from Heaven. It was just me and my husband in a dark room, fumbling with a condom and a bottle of lube for the first time. 

Sex hurt. I knew it would. Everyone told me it would be uncomfortable the first time. What they didn't tell me is that I would be back in the bathroom afterward, crying quietly for reasons I didn't yet comprehend. They didn't tell me that I'd be on my honeymoon, crying again, because sex felt dirty and wrong and sinful even though I was married and it was supposed to be okay now. 

When we got home, I couldn't look anyone in the eye. Everyone knew my virginity was gone. My parents, my church, my friends, my co-workers. They all knew I was soiled and tarnished. I wasn't special anymore. My virginity had become such an essential part of my personality that I didn't know who I was without it. 

That may be the best description of the shame that many of these young women who take purity vows feel after having sex that I have ever read.

The author goes on to say that if a young woman wants to save her virginity for her husband that such a decision is fine. However if the decision is driven by shame, or fear of being judged by God, or of ending up in Hell, then it takes on a kind of specialness that makes losing it an incredibly traumatic experience.

And let me add a little personal information to let you know that this shaming of women by churches can have a life long effect.

Man years ago I was in a relationship with the daughter of a minister.

She had been married before, and had engaged in sex before marriage, but always had very complicated feelings after having sex. Feelings of shame and of insecurity.

When she met me she was drawn to my openness about sex, and the fact that I was substantially more experienced than her husband had been.

The first time we had sex she had the first orgasm she had ever had that was not the result of masturbation. This made her burst into tears, which I have to say was a little off putting.

However she said that she was happy and wanted to explore her sexuality.

To be honest she was never able to become very comfortable with sex, and really did not expand her horizons that much. She often became distant after sex, and even angry with me, which oddly enough seemed directly connected to the amount of pleasure she had experienced during the act.

She came to view me as a deviant and after awhile wanted nothing to do with sex, except occasionally when her own desires became overwhelming. At those times she would start off fine but become upset as she lost control of herself, and would become actually angry if she had too many orgasms.

Of course eventually this relationship was unsustainable, and we went our separate ways. 

I have come to believe that this difficulty was the result of shame and that she simply could not deal with the fact that her body responded to sex in a way that she was told only sinful women would respond.

So yes, these purity pledges, and instruction about the sins of the flesh, have lifelong repercussions.

Believe me, I know.

Alaska's not so secret shame, and how it is happening at an alarming rate right in Sarah Palin's backyard.

Sarah Palin, helping to destroy women's progress in this country with every appearance.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:  

An ongoing study by the University of Alaska Justice Center has once again shown us what for years no one wanted to talk about openly: that violence visited upon women in Alaska far more often than we may realize or want to accept. 

The latest results from the Alaska Victimization Survey show that one in two women living in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough have experienced intimate partner violence, sexual violence, or both. In the last year alone, 2,687 women in this populous region north of Anchorage experienced it. Of the some 30,000 women that live there, 16,033 have been subjected to it in their lifetime. The numbers show that more than six women per day in the Mat-Su experience intimate partner violence, while more than two per day experience sexual violence, according to the survey. 

“Just one victim is one too many. As a community we are concerned,” Mat-Su Borough Manager John Moosey said. “We want a liveable, safe community, especially for women.” 

The statistics, released Tuesday by the Justice Center, are an interesting contrast to a different study measuring people's perception about the Mat-Su. Each year, the Justice Center and the Mat-Su Borough conduct a community survey, and awareness about sexual assaults and rape is one of the questions. For 2011, of the 1,159 people that participated in the survey, less than two percent replied that a rape or sexual assault had taken place in their neighborhood in the last six months. 

But this difficult task – reconciling perceptions with personal experiences – may cause Alaskans to confront an uncomfortable reality. For the 1,159 people in the Mat-Su who were generally unaware of sexual violence in their neighborhood, another 1,190 – the number polled for the victimization survey – revealed a different story. 

“There is a tremendous amount of stigma associated with disclosing domestic and sexual violence. As a result, few people disclose, even to their closest friends and family members. As a result, few people are aware of how common these forms of violence are,” explained Dr. Andre Rosay, Director of the Justice Center at the University of Alaska-Anchorage, the group that conducted the survey. “While people don't perceive that domestic and sexual violence are severe problems in our communities, our survey results show that many women have experienced these forms of violence and many are suffering in silence.”

You know every once in awhile I get into pensive mood and I take a moment to reflect on the the Governor Sarah Palin who could have been.

As the very first female Governor in the state's history she could have been an incredibly powerful and inspiring voice against sexual and physical assault. She could have brought women together from all over the state, and they would finally have felt they had a powerful champion to stand up for them and a person who they could trust to understand their pain and shame.

Instead they got a self serving, overly ambitious social climber who could no more relate to the suffering of other women in her state, than she could to the suffering of any other group who she felt could not help her career.

There was an amazing opportunity for a real female leader in Alaska. An opportunity and a challenge that still remains to this day.

But until we find somebody willing to tackle this incredibly tough issue in an honest and aggressive manner, I fear the number of women hiding black eyes behind their sunglasses or bruises under their clothing will remain unchanged.

As a Democrat I cannot believe I am saying this but if you live in New York City Anthony Weiner does not deserve your vote. Update!

I watched this press conference yesterday in an actual rage. So much so that I yelled at my TV.

And the part that inspired my outburst was when Huma stepped up the microphone, and with a quivering voice told the people of New York that she had forgiven her husband, and that she supported his candidacy. At that point I started yelling, "Don't do that! Don't support that liar and try to cover for his inadequacies. You're better than that, and he does not deserve to have you humiliate yourself in order to help him get a job that he is unfit to hold."

Now let tell you why I was so upset. 

During that press conference Weiner admitted that he continued sexting and sending pictures of his junk even AFTER he had been forced to resign for that very same behavior.

I work in the mental health community, and THAT is the sign of an exhibitionist with virtually NO impulse control, and one who receives a great deal of sexual gratification from having women see his penis. Furthermore there is every reason to believe that if he is not currently engaging in the same type of behavior, that he soon will be.

During the conference Huma revealed that they had attended therapy together to save their marriage, but there was NO indication that Weiner had received counseling for his sexual addiction. Therefore in my opinion there is simply NO way that he has put a stop to it on his own. At least not for long.

So no, Anthony Weiner should simply accept that his life as a politician is over and move on to the next phase. A phase which I absolutely do not believe can start until AFTER he receives some counseling for his compulsions.

I have a great deal of respect for Huma, but you think that this is the last time we will see her shamed by the antics of her husband then you are sorely mistaken, and she, and ALL women, deserve better than that.

Update: Such bad timing for this Harper's Bazaar article by Huma: 

THE GOOD WIFE 

So why am I doing this? Because Anthony has always been a smart, caring, and dedicated person, and while he’s the same public servant who wants what’s best for the people he represents, he is now something else—a better man. New Yorkers will have to decide for themselves whether or not to give him a second chance. I had to make that same decision for myself, for my son, for our family. And I know in my heart that I made the right one. 

Well I have no idea if Huma's decision to stay with her husband is a good one or not,  but I certainly do not think that Weiner has demonstrated that he should be trusted by the people of New York.

Suffering domestic abuse while teaching at a Catholic school? Well that's a firing.

Courtesy of NBC News:  

A San Diego teacher was fired by Holy Trinity School following a domestic violence incident involving her ex-husband. 

Second-grade teacher Carie Charlesworth is out of a job, but not for anything she did in the classroom. Her school district considers her a liability and too unsafe to have around following a domestic violence dispute that happened earlier this year. 

A letter sent to Charlesworth said that school officials are concerned about her ex-husband's "threatening and menacing behavior," and as a result they "cannot allow" her to continue teaching at the Holy Trinity School. 

"They’ve taken away my ability to care for my kids,” said Charlesworth. “It’s not like I can go out and find a teaching job anywhere.” 

The mother of four children didn’t think this would ever be her story to tell, but she is using her name and showing her face in hopes of bringing attention to a larger problem.

So Christian of them to compound this poor woman's problem from simply being abused, to being abused while unemployed.

After all WWJD?

You know I worked at a business that served children where a woman was being physically abused by her husband and was seeking a divorce. Rather than fire her, or shame her for her situation, we supported her.

One day her husband showed up yelling and making all kinds of scary threats.

The owners escorted the children to the back of the building and I went outside and had a "chat" with the gentleman. He never came back again.

I have seen similar scenarios numerous times in my life, and yet I don't remember ONE time where the employers fired the abuse victim. I guess that must be a Catholic thing.

The President Obama Today Show interview that has gone viral.

I liked this interview, though I did think that the President let "W" off a little too easy. But then again he is known for his diplomacy.

That idea about the tattoos is hilarious, but he better be careful because his daughters might call his bluff.

My daughter for instance has been campaigning for us to get matching tattoos for years now.

She thinks it would be an awesome bonding experience, and I see it as the end of any chance for future romance in my life.

Well this should save the authorities time in identifying the people responsible for the next gun massacre.

I cannot tell you how embarrassed I am that BOTH of my Senators are represented in this graphic.

Gabby Giffords responds to yesterday's cowardice in the Senate.

Courtesy of The New York Times:  

Senators say they fear the N.R.A. and the gun lobby. But I think that fear must be nothing compared to the fear the first graders in Sandy Hook Elementary School felt as their lives ended in a hail of bullets. The fear that those children who survived the massacre must feel every time they remember their teachers stacking them into closets and bathrooms, whispering that they loved them, so that love would be the last thing the students heard if the gunman found them. 

On Wednesday, a minority of senators gave into fear and blocked common-sense legislation that would have made it harder for criminals and people with dangerous mental illnesses to get hold of deadly firearms — a bill that could prevent future tragedies like those in Newtown, Conn., Aurora, Colo., Blacksburg, Va., and too many communities to count. Some of the senators who voted against the background-check amendments have met with grieving parents whose children were murdered at Sandy Hook, in Newtown. 

Some of the senators who voted no have also looked into my eyes as I talked about my experience being shot in the head at point-blank range in suburban Tucson two years ago, and expressed sympathy for the 18 other people shot besides me, 6 of whom died. These senators have heard from their constituents — who polls show overwhelmingly favored expanding background checks. And still these senators decided to do nothing. Shame on them. 

I watch TV and read the papers like everyone else. We know what we’re going to hear: vague platitudes like “tough vote” and “complicated issue.” I was elected six times to represent southern Arizona, in the State Legislature and then in Congress. I know what a complicated issue is; I know what it feels like to take a tough vote. This was neither. These senators made their decision based on political fear and on cold calculations about the money of special interests like the National Rifle Association, which in the last election cycle spent around $25 million on contributions, lobbying and outside spending. 

Speaking is physically difficult for me. But my feelings are clear: I’m furious. I will not rest until we have righted the wrong these senators have done, and until we have changed our laws so we can look parents in the face and say: We are trying to keep your children safe. We cannot allow the status quo — desperately protected by the gun lobby so that they can make more money by spreading fear and misinformation — to go on. 

I am asking every reasonable American to help me tell the truth about the cowardice these senators demonstrated. I am asking for mothers to stop these lawmakers at the grocery store and tell them: You’ve lost my vote. I am asking activists to unsubscribe from these senators’ e-mail lists and to stop giving them money. I’m asking citizens to go to their offices and say: You’ve disappointed me, and there will be consequences.

I am still stunned that when confronted by the bravery of Gabby Giffords and those Newtown families that these Senators could STILL  cave to pressure from the NRA.

Personally I would be consumed with shame right now, and be unable to show my face in public.

But I guess that is why I am only a blogger and not a politician.

I agree with everything that Gabby says here, and will join her in going after these cowards in the Senate.

P.S. Here is a list of the Senators and how they voted on the issue.

Anonymous attempts to find justice for yet another victim of sexual abuse. This poor child killed herself.

Courtesy of the You Tube site:

Anonymous engaged #OpJustice4Rehtaeh this morning in response to the suicide of Rehtaeh Parsons. Justice Minister Ross Landy says that it is important for Nova Scotians to have faith in their justice system. Mr. Landy, justice is in your hands. 

Anonymous has confirmed the identities of two of the four alleged rapists. We are currently confirming a third and it is only a matter of time before the fourth is identified as well. 

Our demands are simple: We want the N.S. RCMP to take immediate legal action against the individuals in question. We encourage you to act fast. If we were able to locate these boys within 2 hours, it will not be long before someone else finds them. 

We do not approve of vigilante justice as the media claims. That would mean we approve of violent actions against these rapists at the hands of an unruly mob. What we want is justice. And That's your job. So do it. 

The names of the rapists will be kept until it is apparent you have no intention of providing justice to Retaeh's family. Please be aware that there are other groups of Anons also attempting to uncover this information and they may not to wish to wait at all. Better act fast. 

Be aware that we will be organizing large demonstrations outside of your headquarters. The rapists will be held accountable for their actions. You will be held accountable for your failure to act. 

That is all 

- We Are Anonymous. 
The Corrupt Fear Us. 
The Honest Support Us. 
The Heroic Join Us. 
Expect Justice. 

You can read more about the heartbreaking case of Rehtaeh Parsons here. (Warning: It is quite disturbing.)

I am going to refrain from making any moral judgements on what Anonymous is doing in these cases, but feel free to chime in with your opinion.

I will say this however, and that is that this type of assault happens EVERY day in places all over the world. Rarely is anybody brought to justice due to the lack of evidence, the  hesitancy of the victim to pursue charges, or the mindset of the community about who is really to blame for these incidents.

If what Anonymous is doing stops even ONE of these kinds of attacks, it is hard not to stand with them in seeking justice for victims like Rehtaeh Parsons.