Bigot of the Week Award: May 18, Safeway General Counsel Robert Gordon

Bigot of the Week

In a shocking display of misogyny, Robert A. Gordon, Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Safeway Inc. easily earned this week’s BWA. At the shareholders meeting on May 15, Gordon opened his remarks with a “joke” in which President Obama lugs pigs to the White House to give to Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton. The hypothetical punch line has a Secret Service agent indicating that the pigs are more valuable than the women. Ha ha ha.

Setting aside the not-so-subtle racism inherent in the setup, the culmination of this story and the expectation that it would make his audience laugh, says volumes about Gordon. That he felt comfortable sharing this tale in front of a corporate audience demonstrates how undervalued women are in that environment. Comparing two of the most powerful women in America to farm animals is nothing short of loathsome.

But of course he felt safe. Only 3.6% of Fortune 500 companies are run by women, who make less than 70% of what their male counterparts do. Ten percent of these companies still have all-male boards of directors (Safeway has an amazing one woman on their board.)

I wonder how the (few) women in the audience felt. Certainly none have come forward to complain, even though Safeway has a code of ethics which Gordon’s hateful speech violated. No comment yet from the company, either. Please let Safeway know how you feel about this kind of behavior.

Republicans in Your Vagina…

Raise Your Voice!

Thank you to my friend Nancy (a strident advocate for social justice) for inspiring me to write this article. Republicans continue to dictate who we can fall in love with and marry, signing pledges to discriminate against the LGBT community (thank you, Mitt (I hate the homos) Romney). The war they are waging against women increased exponentially with Jan Brewer’s move on Friday.  Gov. Jan Brewer on Friday signed into law a bill to cut off Planned Parenthood’s access to taxpayer money funneled through the state for non-abortion services–way to go Arizona.  Is there anyone safe in that state that is not white, male, christian, and heterosexual?  Again we see an attack specifically on women without economic means.  Planned Parenthood addresses women’s health, specifically women that are disenfranchised.

I saw this video last night and have to share it, for it perfectly captures the Republican War Against Women.  Click here to see the full video. As you will see from the video, government should not be in banks, or classrooms, but it should be in all vaginas.

Bigot of the Week: May 4, Bryan Fischer and Mitt Romney

Bigots of the Week

For two men who really don’t like each other, Mitt Romney and Bryan Fischer sure seem to pop up together frequently. For those of you fortunate enough not to know Fischer, he’s a staffer at the ironically named American Family Association and one of the most vocal opponents of LGBT equality. He has regularly accused Romney of being insufficiently Christian and is a regular attacker of the Mormon church. Ever one to pander, however, Romney’s rightward march during the campaign saw the two share the stage at the even more ironically named Values Voters summit, a tea-drenched celebration of hatred and bigotry. Romney took a veiled swipe at Fischer from the podium, saying that decency and civility are values to celebrate and that “One of the speakers who will follow me today, has crossed that line.” This week their interaction cost a man his job.

Richard Grenell is a far-right spokesman for aggressive national security and foreign policy. He was appointed to a U.N. post by W, and has strong hawkish credentials. He is also gay. Not just gay, but a vocal supporter of marriage equality and someone who has criticized the Obama administration of not doing enough for gay rights. Romney tapped Grenell two weeks ago to be his spokesman for national security. Cue the outrage.

Faux christians and professional homophobes immediately lashed into the Romney campaign. How dare he allow this unrepentant homo to represent him on any issues?! Quoth the Fischer

Richard Grenell could not possibly have been the only qualified individual that Governor Romney could find … If it wasn’t about homosexuality, than why did so many gay rights groups celebrate the hire?

Cowering under pressure, a move that is a trademark of the campaign, Romney and his aides quickly stifled Grenell, keeping him off conference calls that he had organized and removing him from the anniversary discussions of the killing of Osama bin Laden. Frustrated, Grenell resigned rather than keep a job he wasn’t allowed to do. Romney (despite tepid protestations in the press) let him walk. Fischer is jubilant.

You cannot separate religious liberty from the issue of the homosexual agenda. In fact, the homosexual agenda represents the single greatest threat to religious liberty and association in America today…Governor Romney may not do the right thing out of political conviction, but he will do the right thing out of political expediency, and this I think would be an example…This is what I think is good for the pro-family community. I think it’s going to be a long time before he hires another homosexual activist in a prominent position in his campaign.

Wow. Hate much?

It’s hard to feel too sorry for Richard Grenell — although it is easy to pity him. His first act after being hired was to delete dozens of nasty and often misogynistic tweets including attacks on Hillary Clinton and Michele Obama that had nothing to do with policy. It’s also baffling that a strong supporter of marriage equality and gay rights would have anything to do with the Romney campaign. That’s some serious pathology and internalized oppression.  Yes, while I pity Grenell, I find it difficult to feel any empathy for him.  He is no different than the many women and other marginalized people that vote against their best interest.

Nevertheless, he took on a job for which he was qualified. Bryan Fischer and his slavering attack dogs made a simple element of his humanity a firing offense. And Mitt Romney capitulated. In fact an adviser to his campaign, showing Romneyesque courage and demanding anonymity, observed

It’s not that the campaign cared whether Ric Grenell was gay… But they didn’t want to confront the religious right.

What a sad, stupid story — and clear demonstration of the kind of leadership qualities Mitt Romney possesses.

Checks and Balances In Action: Two Reassuring Court Decisions

Oh, right, THAT'S how it works!

One of the pillars of the United States model of government is that of checks and balances. Each of the three branches of government has discrete, clear powers that complement and control the powers of the other branches. (Well…ideally, anyway.) Given the many attacks on individual rights pursued by far-right legislatures citizen groups — especially directed at women and other minorities — the role of the courts to restrict that over-reach is critical to a functioning democracy.

This week we have good news in two different cases, both related to the War on Women. Courts in Oklahoma and Texas — the bright red Southwest — have blocked two right-wing actions that were clearly unconstitutional or in violation of Federal law.

In Oklahoma, the issue was the so-called “personhood” movement that would give every fertilized egg all the rights of a person under state law. Even though this effort has so far failed everywhere it’s been tried (even in Mississippi), anti-choice forces still pursue it as a favorite tactic to restrict women’s choices. These misogynists were attempting to put a personhood amendment to the Oklahoma constitution before voters. On Monday, the Oklahoma Supreme Court unanimously shot down initiative, declaring the effort to be a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution. Referring to a twenty-year-old Supreme Court case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the justices rejected this absurd effort in very clear language:

The mandate of Casey is as binding on this Court today as it was twenty years ago. Initiative Petition No. 395 conflicts with Casey and is void on its face and it is hereby ordered stricken.

Also on Monday, a Federal judge in Texas blocked implementation of a recently signed rule that targeted funding for Planned Parenthood. The Texas Health and Human Services Commissioner implemented the rule which said that the Texas Women’s Health Program (which uses Federal Medicaid money), would not fund services at Planned Parenthood or any other “affiliates of abortion providers.” So, even though the services being funded are NOT abortions and are critical health services for low-income women (over 130,000 in Texas!), the Texas government wants to block service to punish one provider. Lovely. U.S. District Court Judge Lee Yeakel was just as clear and succinct as his colleagues in Oklahoma:

Medicaid law is very clear; a state may not restrict patients’ choice of providers of services like mammograms and other cancer screenings, if those providers are qualified to deliver care covered by Medicaid.

Getting typically whiny, Texas officials are now threatening to cancel the entire health program rather than follow Federal law and support the health of the citizens they were elected to serve.

It should just be a few days before the Insupportable Rage Machine (TM) on the right starts screaming “activist judges!” The Oklahoma justices may even face an orchestrated attack like the one mounted against the Iowa Supreme Court for simply doing their jobs. We should thank all these officers of the court for doing what they were elected and appointed to do: uphold the law. Now let’s hope the Fecal Five can avoid making the wrong decision about the Affordable Care Act…

Of Actions and Accountability: A Tale of Two Apologies

Isn't it ironic which one we say is on the "right"?

Cast your mind back two months. Remember when right-wing millionaire bloviator Rush Limbaugh attacked a law student for speaking facts when invited to a Congressional hearing? Limbaugh grossly misrepresented the situation and avoided any factual information in his character assassination of Sandra Fluke: he called her a slut, said she wanted Federal money so she could be promiscuous, and demanded that she post sex videos online so he could see what he was paying for. When reasonable people expressed concern, rising to outrage, at his behavior, he doubled down, spending three days of broadcasts generating further lies and more hysterical behavior. Fortunately, Fluke stood her ground, public pressure cost Rush advertisers, and his eventual non-apology was too little too late. What’s telling, however, is that he thought he could use his bully platform to say whatever he wanted, shaping reality to his own ends, and suffer no consequences.

Fast forward to last week. Gay rights advocate, writer, and It Gets Better founder Dan Savage appeared at a high school journalism conference to discuss the issue of bullying. Reasonably pointing to the all-too-frequent use of religious faith to defend homophobic bullying, he pointed out the many inconsistencies between biblical teaching and modern “Christian” practice, using the robust defense of slavery in the Bible as a repeated example. His references to outmoded biblical requirements as “bullshit” outraged some attendees, who walked out of his presentation. As he transitioned from this part of his presentation to his broader theme of bullying, he commented on the walk out.

You can tell the Bible guys in the hall that they can come back now, because I’m done beating up the Bible. It’s funny, as someone who’s on the receiving end of beatings that are justified by the Bible, how pansy-assed some people react when you push back.

Cue the right-wing outrage machine. Savage was attacked for his use of language and for belittling the faith of his audience. Now for the real point of contrast between his story and Limbaugh’s. Rather than react immediately to the furor, Savage took the time to reflect on the situation. He then crafted a smart, careful response, addressing all the nuances of the situation. He accepted responsibility for the name-calling use of the term “pansy-assed” and apologized to the students who had walked out while making an excellent point

I wasn’t calling the handful of students who left pansies (2800+ students, most of them Christian, stayed and listened), just the walk-out itself. But that’s a distinction without a difference—kinda like when religious conservatives tells their gay friends that they “love the sinner, hate the sin.”

Nicely done, Mr. Savage. He then wittily stood by his thesis

I didn’t call anyone’s religion bullshit. I did say that there is bullshit—”untrue words or ideas”—in the Bible. That is being spun as an attack on Christianity. Which is bullshhh… which is untrue.

It’s an interesting study in contrasts isn’t it? On one side: lies, hyperbole, and false outrage defended and compounded for days on end; on the other: a careful analysis of the situation, a reasonable (if somewhat unnecessary) apology and a careful restating of the thesis.

Sadly, this contrast plays out all too often. Calling out bigoted actions and unreasonable behavior by people ranging from right-wing pundit Juan Williams to narrow-minded “celebrities” results in their digging in their heels, counter-calling for apologies, and refusing to take responsibility for their actions. Vice President Biden reminds Americans that Mitt Romney said going into Pakistan after Bin Laden would be a horrible mistake and Romney adopts a “how dare you repeat exactly the words I said!” attitude. Yet Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen, who caught hell for merely repeating Ann Romney‘s own claim that she did not work, looked carefully at what she said and how she said it, then responded to the criticism directly and honestly.

I apologize. Working moms, stay at home moms, they’re both extremely hard jobs… I’ve fought my whole life for women to have the choices that Ann Romney talked about. What I meant was that Mitt Romney is using his wife as an economic surrogate. He himself said it. And I just thought that that was off-base.

Denial, finger-pointing, lying, and dodging responsibility for one’s own actions or thoughtful responses and personal accountability — it shouldn’t be hard to determine which of these is the more desirable approach from our leaders, role models, and commentators. Looking at the examples sure makes the gridlock in Congress snap into focus, doesn’t it?

Violence Against Women Act: The 31 Voices For Violence

As the war against women continues, there was a spot of light last week in the Senate.  Sixty-eight Senators voted to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, defeating the 31 Republican men who voted to take away women’s voices after they have been attacked.  One might ask, do these 31 Republican men have no mothers, no sisters, no daughters?  What is it with Republicans and women lately?  We can only presume they don’t care about women’s health and well being–this includes all of the Republican women who so often suffer from internalized oppression, Sarah Palin et al.

This legislation is slated to go to the House next.  Sadly, the House GOP is planning on introducing a bill with the same name, but their version of the Violence Against Women Act attempts to strip out the very provisions protecting Native Americans, undocumented immigrants, and LGBT Americans we just fought for.  I guess the GOP really has no clue about marginalized populations and the intersections of oppression–to think about such issues one would have to be a civil servant!

So let’s call out bad behavior and let’s attach the names to these 31 Republicans that we need to be afraid of:

Barrasso (R-WY)	Grassley (R-IA)	Moran (R-KS)
Blunt (R-MO)	Hatch (R-UT)	Paul (R-KY)
Boozman (R-AR)	Inhofe (R-OK)	Risch (R-ID)
Burr (R-NC)	Isakson (R-GA)	Roberts (R-KS)
Chambliss (R-GA)	Johanns (R-NE)	Rubio (R-FL)
Coburn (R-OK)	Johnson (R-WI)	Sessions (R-AL)
Cochran (R-MS)	Kyl (R-AZ)	Shelby (R-AL)
Cornyn (R-TX)	Lee (R-UT)	Thune (R-SD)
DeMint (R-SC)	Lugar (R-IN)	Toomey (R-PA)
Enzi (R-WY)	McConnell (R-KY)	Wicker (R-MS)
Graham (R-SC)

Note that in nine states (AL, GA, KS, KY, MS, OK, SC, UT, WY) vulnerable populations received no Senate support whatsoever.  On the plus side, thanks to the six Republican men in the Senate – Alexander (TN), Coats (IN), Corker (TN), Crapo (ID), McCain (AZ), Portman (OH) – who bucked the trend and did the right thing with this vote.

Bigot of the Week Award: April 27, Ann Romney

Bigot of the Week

Proving that one hypocritical, out-of-touch, flip-flopper of a spouse deserves another, professional candidate wife Ann Romney joins her twice-BWA husband in the seat of dishonor. Ever since Mittmatic punted anything having to do with woman stuff to his wife as “the expert on that” she’s been flirting with supreme bigothood. This week she easily tipped the scales.

Appearing at the Prescott Bush Awards Dinner in Connecticut, Stepford Romney went on at length about how she’s a housewife just like so many other women and how much she can relate to that hard work. Proving that class warfare disconnects are part of the marital bond, she then said

I love the fact that there are women out there who don’t have a choice and they must go to work and they still have to raise the kids. Thank goodness that we value those people too. And sometimes life isn’t easy for any of us.

Really?!? She loves the fact that there are people who have no choices in their lives? Even though staying at home and eking out a meager living on her millionaire husband’s stock portfolio was her single most important decision? Given the second half of the quote and its context in her larger speech, it might be tempting to give her credit for a simple gaffe. Her recent history of hypocrisy and attack language, however, makes it clear that the statement was far more Freudian than slip.

Two weeks ago, Romney had a dustup with journalist Hilary Rosen, who questioned her right to discuss the challenges faced by women who work outside the home because she “never worked a day in her life.” Cue the outrage. Ann Romney, who has frequently referred to her decision “not to work,” suddenly was a furious stay-at-home mom, reminding us that such a high calling is also hard work and deserves respect. Even though she has also supported her husband’s position that women with children must work outside the home to have the “dignity of work” and avoid raising “indolent” children. Fetch my smelling salts! All this spinning is making me dizzy.

Talk about profound white heterosexual privilege!  Romney’s money certainly has allowed her not to even think about disparities for women, women of color, sexual orientation, gender identity and all the other intersections of oppression that take away many of the lovely choices she has exercised.  It’s really pretty clear what oppressed, hard-working mom Ann Romney is saying: if you’re wealthy enough to really have choices, you should be congratulated for making them. But if you’re part of that pesky 99%, you should just play the hand you’re dealt and quit whining. And she knows, too, because she’s channelling Chaka Khan: she’s every woman.

Gay Men Unite Against the War On Women

The Many forms of Misogyny

Another brilliant article by James Queale, TSM Contributor

Knowing about women and women’s rights should be at the top of everyone’s
list. That is why it is saddening to me to see women who have internalized
oppression stemming from a very misogynistic world.With the recent war on women by the Republican party, misogyny is
continually leading in the headlines. Whether it is Jan Brewer’s new “life
begins at the beginning of your period” bill or just recently when Michele
Bachmann spoke with no sense of irony saying:

What we want is women to be able to make their own choices…We want womento make their own choices in healthcare. You see that’s the lie that happens under Obamacare. The President of the United States effectively becomes a health care dictator. Women don’t need anyone to tell them what to do on health care. We want women to have their own choices, their own money, that way they can make their own choices for the future of their own bodies.

Seeing the word “choice” would suggest that Michele Bachmann is now
pro-choice. But, that is not the case. This is a woman that in matters of
rape or incest would still have abortion banned. Where is a woman’s right
to choose? This is a clever way to seem pro-choice while at the same time
taking away freedoms. Don’t you get it? We are more free with less freedom.
Makes perfect sense.There is a never ending lineup of Republican women who are falling on the
misogynistic sword. We need to combat the lies and misinformation and
educate. The attack on women has been ceaseless and we can’t let them win.

Bigot of the Week Award: April 20, Ted Nugent

Bigot of the Week

Some weeks it’s hard to pick a bigot from the far too many choices that present themselves. Other weeks one person easily rises (sinks?) to the award; this is one of those weeks. Washed-up rocker and gun nut Ted Nugent departed from his usual crazed rantings to engage in a hostile attack on the President followed by a racist and ignorant refusal to apologize-can we say Charm Free?

At the National Rifle Association conference last weekend, Nugent ratched up his usual attacks on the Obama administration (and Democrats in general) comparing officials to coyotes who should be shot. At the heart of his bellicose bellowing was this gem:

If Barack Obama becomes the President in November again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year.

For a self-proclaimed patriot, those words are hypocritically close to treason–this sounds like a threat to assassinate the President to me. When rightfully skewered in the press for his rant, Nugent upped the ante by making a racist comparison to try to gain the high ground.

I spoke at the NRA and I will stand by my speech. It was 100 percent positive… See, I’m a black Jew at a Nazi-Klan rally, and there are some power-abusing corrupt monsters in our federal government that despise me because I have the audacity to speak the truth to identify the violations of our government.

This is nothing new from Nugent. While pondering a run for Michigan governor, he repeatedly attacked then-Governor Jennifer Granholm calling her “scrotumless” and shooting arrows into her picture at concerts. He has said that animal rights activists should have arrows shot through their lungs and called Fund for Animals’ Heidi Prescott a worthless whore, adding “who needs to club a seal, when you can club Heidi?” Given this history of violent rhetoric and behavior, it’s understandable that the Secret Service is taking a real interest in his latest rant. Mitt Romney, of course, whom Nugent has endorsed, remains silent on the matter.

Dishonorable mention this week goes to Roman Catholic Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria, IL. In a homily delivered last weekend, the Bishop bizarrely compared the Affordable Care Act and the Obama administration’s policy on contraception and insurance to some pretty nasty company.

Hitler and Stalin, at their better moments, would just barely tolerate some churches remaining open, but would not tolerate any competition with the state in education, social services and health care. In clear violation of our First Amendment rights, Barack Obama, with his radical, pro-abortion and extreme secularist agenda, now seems intent on following a similar path.

Sure, Bishop, a secular government ensuring care for all of its citizens (which I thought was a Christian value) is just like the horrific acts carried out by those two dictators. Exaggerating hypocrisy much? If we follow Bishop Jenky’s logic here, I’m guessing he would also compare Jesus to Hitler.

Jan Brewer v. Roe v. Wade

Is there anyone whose rights I still need to trample?

Sadly, we have another Stepford wife perpetuating the war on women.  Our Jan Brewer(R. Arizona) who suffers from internalized misogyny, has signed a bill that in many ways challenges Roe v. Wade and sends the message that women are not able to govern their own bodies.   The absurd law states that:

…gestational age as beginning on the first day of a woman’s last period, rather than at fertilization. In practice, that means the state has banned abortions after about 18 weeks.

The absurdly named Women’s Health and Safety Act moves the cutoff threshold for abortions so early that it prevents most medical testing that would inform a woman about the health and viability of a fetus. This is bad enough, but the bill also effectively ends another common, medically sound practice.

Medication abortions, which are nonsurgical and usually performed within the first nine weeks of pregnancy, and account for between 17 and 20 percent of all abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive-rights advocacy group. While women often take the pills at clinics and in their homes, the bill now mandates that a medical provider must have hospital privileges within 30 miles of where the procedure takes place. Many times clinics or homes are not within 30 miles of hospitals, and the distance prevents providers from other cities or even states from caring for women, says Elizabeth Nash of the Guttmacher Institute. Another factor that could contribute to what Nash called a “shutdown” of medication abortions is that the law requires abortion pills to be administered using outdated protocols, confusing providers and obscuring proper use of the drugs.

This bill continues the alarming trend of right-wing legislatures (Arizona’s is one of the most draconian) and tea-soaked governors doing everything they can to thwart the established law of the land regarding abortions. Since taking office, Jan Brewer has proved hostile to every vulnerable population she comes across. How sad that this latest action provides more cover for the Republican obfuscationsists to say “how can it be a war on women when a woman supported it?” Bigots and villains have no better allies than the self-loathing, and Jan Brewer clearly loathes everyone.  We tried to reach Gov. Brewer for comment, but she was busy directing her minions to build a wall around Arizona to keep out Latinos.