(2 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
I’ve given some thought to what Armando said about re-electing Barack Obama for the sake of the Supreme Court, i.e., women’s reproductive rights. I am a complete advocate of women’s reproductive rights. To my mind, women quite obviously “own” pregnancy. End of conversation. Goodbye. Click.
Had we carried on beyond the click, suffice it to say that when men get pregnant and carry offspring to term, and be bound to the little curtain climbers for life, then I’ll take more interest in men’s stupid f****** opinions and moral authority with respect to women’s reproductive rights. Until then, men are hardly worthy to discuss it, AND they are genetically conflicted and selfish to boot, which has life-threatening consequences for women, both during pregnancy and not.
I believe it was the English jurist William Blackstone who noted that because men cannot impose bastards on a family, men should be allowed legal lenience in imposing reproductive order on their wives. This reproductive asymmetry, that the woman always knows who one of the parents is, whereas the man doesn’t, is no good cause for male bullying, physically, legally, or politically. I don’t think men should be obligated to raise bastards, which happens more often than you might think, but wife-beating and other forms of bullying are not the answer to male insecurity anymore than physical punishment would be an answer to male infidelity. (Here are some solutions.)
Humans are inherently unfaithful, statistically speaking. Extra-pair copulation takes two. Try to fit facts into your calculus while trying not to completely dehumanize everyone around you, including yourself. I understand the logic of cheating, but worse things have happened in the world than someone acting decently enough to raise another human being to adulthood, regardless of paternity. We males certainly don’t need Taliban-like prerogatives in the age of DNA testing. The only reason we males let each other get away with acting on our worst fears and impulses before DNA testing is because we were all in the same club, winning at fight club, writin’ all the laws, and the wimmin-folk weren’t, ergo… Biology is real, but it is not what we humans regard as fairness. That difference between biology and fairness is why we have a constitution in the first place.
Reproduction is a huge deal; call it the hugest deal ever, far bigger even than financial crimes, and it’s way more complicated and involved for females than for males. Females produce one large, energy-rich egg per month, whereas males produce a zillion little, worthless, DNA-only bastard tadpoles a day, so who is cheating whom in the realm of sexual reproduction? Someone starting cheating energy-investment-wise first, and it wasn’t the female who won the day, in that respect. Hence, due to their much larger investment, females are the choosy sex, mating selectively (they’re the ones who invest energy AND get pregnant!), whereas males will “knock one out” at arm’s length, anytime, any day, regardless of consequences (not his). This evolutionary sexual heritage matters in who decides what politically.
I bring up the issue of paternity uncertainty because it seems to be a root of many human social evils, especially regarding women, and the law has often sided with men on the issue based on the logic of paternity uncertainty, without respect for the obvious asymmetries of pregnancy and child-rearing. Aside from infidelity on “both sides of the aisle,” this evil of uncertainty is in our male DNA, which is why we need laws to enforce equality.
So, yeah, the Supreme Court and women’s reproductive rights are on the line, and it’s a big f***ing deal. I should add that that being so, Ginsberg could retire and let Obama appoint her replacement before his next term. I would not put it past Obama to be holding that appointment over our heads as his electoral ace in the hole. But that would be extortion, and would garner a very special “F*** you, buddy” from yours truly.
There’s also the issue that Obama is one-for-two on Supreme Court appointments so far. You can guess which former Solicitor General named Kagan I’m not thrilled about based on her patently stupid views on the war on terror and presidential power. That was a Bush League appointment, although she’s probably safe on women’s reproductive rights.
But that’s my whole point. I’m not “voting to save women’s reproductive rights.” As big as that issue is, if that’s all Obama has to offer, he can go hump a stump. Every interest for itself is not solidarity.
My grievances against Obama are weighty, ranging from his committing and covering-up war crimes, environmental crimes, and blatant financial pillaging, which includes his signature “achievement” of health care reform. His presidency has been a monumental, long-lasting, time-released clusterf*** at a time when we absolutely could not afford more of the same. I mean, this guy really f***ed the dog.
The lesser of two psychopaths doesn’t work for me. I don’t care if he is a true psychopath or not, but I’d be surprised if you couldn’t get a clinical shoe to fit the bastard.
I resent the f***ing liberals who give explicit or tacit approval and consent, who so much as countenance his crimes, and who would just as likely as consider me morally culpable for failing to show solidarity on women’s reproductive rights by not voting for Obama.
I won’t let yet another smooth smoothie, Ivy League, corporate, f***ing war criminal “dick” blackmail me using the Supreme Court when he’s selling us out on every other issue. Nah. Gah. Happm.
I always and truly appreciate Armando’s point of view, to which I cannot hew.
My sincere apologies to the wimmin-folk, some large percentage of whom voted for Bush. Now, some of ya’s want my vote. Sorry. End of conversation. Goodbye. Click.
3 comments
Obama hasn’t been all that supportive of women’s reproductive rights. The ACA contains some pretty restrictive limits on health insurance that makes it more expensive for a woman to get a policy that covers abortion. There is also a call by the neanderthals to either tax insurers that carry the option and/or eliminate abortion from coverage at all.
Obama’s justice department has done nothing to stop states from passing laws that violate Roe by limiting abortions to less than 24 weeks and unnecessarily restrictive waiting periods with women subjective to abusive lectures and misinformation.
I was done with Obama in 2008. We need to concentrate our efforts electing representatives to Congress who support our issues and will put the stop to any president appointing someone as objectionable as Scalia, Thomas, Alito and Roberts
no Republican will, at least until the xtian taliban run the whole show, at which time we’ll have many other things to worry about too. Both sides need this as a continuing issue to fire up the base.