There is always so much to pass on in the crazy world of the forced birth brigade.
Let's start with
Leslee Unruh's wild claim that the voters are just too stupid and voted wrong.
Even though her failed campaign was called "Vote Yes", she claimed it was just too confusing for South Dakota voters and we all just simply voted wrong.
On a similar note Unruh and her toadie Roger Hunt are talking about trying to force more of their ill will on the people of South Dakota by introducing a ban with exceptions. A recent Argus Leader online
poll showed that 63 percent of the people do not want a ban with exceptions either. So they may want to rethink their cunning plan. Hunt may be too busy to do much since he is still under investigation for his illegal campaign finance scheme.
Randall Beck seems to think everything is just happy and fine now that the election is over. The tension is way down and people are starting to go back to everyday life with a big sigh of relief that this mess is over. But Beck is wrong to think there are not permanent injuries to our state because of this. Some of the comments by people and groups dumped their once well hidden intolerance, misogyny, bigotry and racism out into the public square. People now know for sure the absolute darkness and hatred for others that some people embrace cloaked in a religious belief. We all now know well what churches in our state hate and seek to oppress those beyond their walls and what ones will stand for the freedom of the individual. People will never look at the religious groups who stirred up this trouble the same way again. People will remember what neighbors had yard signs. It is more of a destruction of innocence, you now know you live among people willing to force their religion upon you at the end of a gun via. the law. At least Beck had enough honesty to call this issue exactly what it is, a holy war. "
McCaulley and those who join him in that holy war also must guard against a special kind of arrogance, one that casually views anyone not in lock step with them (currently, the majority of South Dakotans) as soulless fools."
Let us not forget one of the other portions of the war on women, the abstinence/purity scheme.
This is the most blatant imposition of male dominance on young women. They are relegated to property to be owned until the title is transferred to another male. The fancy dresses and a nice dinner are just there to ease the acceptance from personhood to property.
Pandagon has an interesting critique of the male dominated purity ball industry and what is fueling it. Its not the cash.
If you want to dive even deeper into the creepy minds of the people who want to control women, don't say we didn't warn you. This article at
The Nation digs into the anti-woman, anti-contraception, forced birth, male dominated, homophobic and racist, yes racist beliefs of conservative Christians.
The commentary and ideas by the group in the article are not new. These ideas have been parroted many times by South Dakota religious conservatives pushing for harsh restrictions on everything from sex education & contraception to abortion and the rights of women and homosexuals. The article really dives into the ugly belly of the beast of these people. They really hate it when you expose it outside of the carefully crafted words they use. This is because they know deep down that what they are doing it wrong, they just don't all have the stomach to admit what they are in public. But their hatred of women and their desire to strip them of every right is downright scary. This is what we are fighting against here in South Dakota.
Pandagon goes on to dissect how many of these men view contraception and abortion as emascualting them. When women have agency, men can't own them and control them. So anything that gives women freedom is a frightening idea.
People still wonder where Leslee Unruh got her Orwellian double speak that stripping women of choice is actually freeing them. She is a card carrying member of "Feminists" for Life, a group that has nothing to do with feminism. FFL claims that in order to be free, women must have their freedom taken away. FFL has the same wacky idea as Unruh that women do not have free will and are instead instinctual creatures, therefore we should no longer be allowed to make decisions for ourselves. They promote the same idea that crazy Leslee does, that women are stupid animals that want to breed uncontrolled, we are just too stupid to know it.
One of the quirks about this whole anti-woman faux feminism is that it is coming out of the mouths of women. How could women actively be attempting to oppress other women? It happens all the time. They gain approval from their male authority figures that are imposed on them by their religious beliefs or family in helping promote the cause. They are rewarded well for their hand in oppressing those pesky other women who just won't listen and submit.
BB has some deep insight into this women oppressing women behavior compares it with the modern day context of genital mutiliation in Africa.
"S
o while men themselves are not doing the actual cutting they are the driving force behind the procedure. When we step back and look at the history of these cultures we see a very clear picture emerge. The women are little more than the foot soldiers of the powerful males, and while their actions are individually wrong they are simply the vehicle by which men continue to exert their power and control over the women in the area."
"
The beauty of this worldwide system of oppression of women is that women have been recruited as being the 'bad guys'. Women are often used as the foot soldiers of the men in power; they are used as the tools by which men can continue to live with unquestioned privilege and authority. Society grooms these women from birth, depending on where they live, it tells them that their genitalia is shameful, that they are worthless, that their importance lay in how many sons they can produce or how well they fake an orgasm. Are these women responsible for their deeds? Yes, of course they are, but so are the men in power who are pulling the strings behind all of it."
Now apply this to the abortion ban, the agenda of the religious conservatives against women and groups like FFL. These women are the
Kapo of the modern day.
In yet another blow to the theocratic forced pregnancy agenda a
new study said that "abstinence only" sex education is failing. The study also showed that
82% of people do not want "abstinence only" taught exclusively and 50% actively opposed its use as a program. Even among conservatives 70% wanted comprehensive sex education. With such broad opposition to "abstinence only", maybe the legislature should rethink their attempt last year to force it as the state mandate for the schools. Luckly that failed last session. Federal funding for this junk program is also now in question since it is being proven to not work and most of the country opposes it. Leslee Unruh and her related groups have raked in millions of taxpayer dollars for this, but those days may be over.
The other pet project of the religious conservatives is creationism. This too has taken a big hit after the elections.
Pro-creationism officials have been ousted from the Kansas and Ohio school boards. The SD GOP adopted an official party stance supporting creationism. They may want to rethink their zealousness for this.
