Are there Arab women with such courage?

If so, where are they hiding?

"The only thing that bothered me was that we waited so long to make this protest."
--Mrs Rosa Parks (1913-2005)

Amanda Fortini: "Bitch and the Ditz"

November 18, 2008 (contains c-word as a quote)

MS AMANDA FORTINI writes about Senator Clinton and Governor Palin as the "Bitch and the Ditz: How the Year of the Woman reinforced the two most pernicious sexist stereotypes and actually set women back."

I feel for this poor unenlightened girl. My guess is she white, voted for obama (and doesn't know anything about him), is younger than 35, grew up in a privileged setting and the year she was born she couldn't have gotten into the university she went to and that prior to Title IX she wouldn't have been able to do the job she is now. I would even venture a guess that she took a class under the title "Women's Studies".

It's quite humorous in a way. What does she know about "setting women back"? She did so with her very title - she's the one connecting the stereotypes to the women. She has been afforded every opportunity because of Senator Clinton's generation, including the ability to rant about something she knows nothing of. It reminds me of the sadly delusional MS KLIFF, who wrote: "Sorry, Hillary - girls already rule."

If that were true, Senator Clinton would be ruling. It would not have even been close if they were both white men. And had she had a resume as thin as barry's, she wouldn't have even made it to Iowa. Yet she is "setting women back".

Ms Fortini, where do you think you are and how do you think you got there? On you're own merit? And what, exactly, are you doing to move women forward? You do realize that is up to your generation, don't you? You cannot speak of setting women back when you don't know or appreciate how far women have come. You have proven your ignorance by referring to Senator Clinton and Governor Palin without their hard-earned titles.

Senator Clinton's generation had to fight for whatever advancement they achieved. They fought so you could believe that gender equality is a birth right. So you could choose to work outside the home and own your own business. So you could take for granted your right to choose.

How many women do you know were made sterile or died because of back alley abortions? Had entrails thrown at them by Evangelicals? Had their reproduction decided for them by their husbands?

My guess is you weren't even born when Senator Clinton was a member of the Nixon impeachment inquiry staff, that you hadn't yet learned how to talk when Senator Clinton founded Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, were still in grade school when she he was named one of the 100 most influential attorneys (twice) and were just entering college when she was taking on the Chinese like no American man or women had prior (or since), declaring in no uncertain terms women's rights are human rights. Rights you clearly have taken for granted - rights you ridicule in your article. And I am certain you know nothing of what Senator Clinton accomplished in Arkansas concerning children and education.

And yet, you feel comfortable declaring that Senator Clinton has "set women back".

You can no more write about Senator Clinton's generation than I can about ungrateful girls who think they got where they are on their own merit. Do you think you haven't filled a quota along the way? That your appearance and relative shrillness haven't influenced your grades, job opportunities and compensation? Are you so naive as to believe you are equal in the eyes of society to men?

You have attacked Senator Clinton on all fronts, Ms Fortini, without once thinking that she couldn't be a "bitch" unless she had been treated like one. And who is perpetuating it by writing such an article?

Where is positivity? Where is the acknowledgment and congratulations that Senator Clinton got further than anyone thought possible? Where is the perspective from wise women, who were born before they had the right to vote?

Women were no more included in the Constitution than black men - neither could vote. There is not a single black man alive who was born without the right to vote. But there are black women. Black men have been voting since 1870. More black men - former slaves - held office immediately after they got the right to vote than now. It took anther fifty years for women's suffrage.

No matter what barry considers himself - he is a man - and a man as always been president. He does resemble those presidents on the dollar bills - Senator Clinton does not.

The notion, Ms Fortini, that Senator Clinton is "setting women back" is as delusional as your belief that you are treated and given the same respect as men, including and especially by your male peers.

How, exactly, is your article meant to inspire younger girls to want to be like you? How is attacking two women of separate generations that preceded yours, women who had the courage to step forward on the national stage - qualified or not - working to advance women?

How are your words any different than those of misogynists Chris Matthews, Herr Olbermann or Jonjon Alter?

And this:

"The assumption was that these "18 million cracks in the highest glass ceiling," as Clinton put it, would advance the prospects of female achievement and gender equality. It hasn't exactly worked out that way."

"Many will say we’ve come a long way this year. The truth is we have a long way to go."

You do realize, Ms Fortini, that moving women forward is your job and that tearing other women down is not the way to get there.

"Never mind that it's impossible to imagine a male candidate mentioning fatherhood as the source of his readiness to be the nation's second-in-command."

It's not impossible to imagine when it has already been done. Vice presidential debate, Senator Biden: "But the notion that somehow, because I'm a man, I don't know what it's like to raise two kids alone, I don't know what it's like to have a child you're not sure is going to -- is going to make it -- I understand. I understand, as well as, with all due respect, the governor or anybody else, what it's like for those people sitting around that kitchen table. And guess what? They're looking for help. They're looking for help. They're not looking for more of the same."

And he did it while tearing up. Had it been Governor Palin tearing up, Jesse Jackson, Jr. have demanded another investigation. Instead, Governor Palin was ripped apart for not having shown some empathy. And had she? Did anyone question barry for not showing empathy towards Senator McCain's torture-inflicted injuries when he made and approved the ad mocking Senator McCain's inability to use a computer?

Ms Fortini, what did you think as a woman when Senator Clinton was referred to as "It"? Have you written an article on how little society has advanced when a Glenn Beck can call a former first lady and presidential candidate "It" and not be fired?

Were you even aware of it?

Have you written about The Double Standard as pertains barry and his opponents? About Bill Maher speculating how much Hillary's cunt was worth? Would you have written something had he said it in reference to Mrs Obama's cunt?

Ask yourself, Ms Fortini, who is moving women forward by remaining silent and selectively speaking up only when the issue involves race. An injustice to one woman is an injustice to all women. Prejudice is prejudice and there should be no degree to how they are tolerated or addressed.

Who is displaying ignorance by blaming the women attacked for their stereotypes? Who is "setting women back" by not addressing these issues and choosing instead to focus blame and assign cliches?

Women cannot be "set back" if they haven't moved forward in the first place. And women will never move forward unless the next generation chooses to understand and respect the struggles of the women who went before them.

Have you pondered what Mrs Rosa Parks would have felt about this election? What her thoughts would have been on how the female candidates were treated and how they were branded racists by the self-proclaimed Transcender of Race? Would Mrs Parks have believed America has take a full step forward towards achieving a More Perfect Union? Or just a sidestep?

Perhaps in your next article, Ms Fortini, you can demonstrate an understanding of sexism and misogyny as regards the treatment of Senator Clinton and Governor Palin. Maybe even comment on The Double Standard both of them faced and the hierarchy of prejudice in America. Perhaps then your pronouncement would have basis and meaning.

Race card: I don't look like those president's on the dollar bills."

Who else doesn't look like those presidents on the dollar bills? Which sex has never had a paper dollar bill and only a coin? What's taken more seriously? Who is most qualified to lead this country? Who has been talking about the economy since day 1 of her campaign and who didn't even mention the economy on 'The View' 3-29-08. In touch with The American People?
And of all, who looks presidential?

Susan B Anthony: "Woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself." "I know nothing but woman and her disfranchised."

She died 14 years before passage of the 19th Amendment. And women who were born before women had the right to vote will not in their lifetime see a woman president - though they may well see a biracial president. No matter his racial background - he is still a man. He is a black man with absolutely no connection to the Oppressed Southern Negro except that his mother's ancestors owned slaves. And the fact that he has the slimmest resume of all of the Democratic and Republican candidates, including the first woman proves that once again race takes precedence over gender.

One wonders how far Obama would have gotten if Senator Clinton was a man of any color. And if Senator Obama were a woman? He would have been laughed out of Iowa, if he got there at all. And he most certainly have gotten the massive assist by the MSM.

1870 15th Amendment: Black suffrage - men only. Passed on the first vote. Thomas Mundy Peterson was the first black man to vote on March 31, 1870. Thus, a black man was able and did vote and held elected office half a century before a woman of any race or color could vote. After the passage on a per capita and absolute basis, more blacks were elected to political office during the period from 1865 to 1880 than at any other time in American history. In New Jersey, March 31st is annually celebrated as Thomas Mundy Peterson Day to mark the right of all citizens to vote. ALL?

Harvard Law School grad, Linda Monk: "Some leaders in the women's suffrage movement felt deeply betrayed," said Monk. "This wasn't healed until the end of the 19th century." Has it healed?

1915 Supreme Court overturned the requirement to pass a literacy test.

1920 19th Amendment. Gave women of any race the right to vote. Took 4 years to pass. Mississippi was the last to officially ratify on March 22, 1984.

1964 24th Amendment: Voter's Rights Act Abolished the poll tax. Took 5 months to pass.

1968 Rev Martin Luther King, Jr's "I have a Dream Speech". (Video & Transcript)

1995 First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton "Women's Rights are Civil Rights" (Video & Transcript)

8-26-2008 88th Anniversary of woman's right to vote
Sen Clinton Convention Speech (Video & transcript)

8-28-2008 45th Anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King's speech
Sen Obama Convention speech (Video & transcript)

Brazile: "My mama taught me to play by the rules"

May 31, 2008
[The original video that I transcribed to got taken down. So the times are a little off.]


At the farce that was the DNC Rules Panel, discussing MI & FL, Donna Brazile, Superdelegate and Rules Committee Member lectures Governor Blanchard.

videocafeblog

BRAZILE: This goes to what my mama taught me. (evil look 2:53) My mama - you mentioned your mother - if I was doing what I normally do on Saturday, I would give you something to take home [like she said to Begala] - but I'm not. But my mama always taught me to play by the rules and respect the rules. My mama taught me...when you decide to change the rules, especially, middle of the game, end of the game, that is referred to as cheating.

[Another evil face 4:04]

Angry: So, in that spirit, in the spirit of unity that we all come here today, we come hear in the spirit of unity- we come here in the spirit - not because we everything that we will do here today will be reflected in all of the rules that we have...

(4:12) she nods her head to the pink-faced old men next to her - she's clearly being racistly dismissive - how many of the white men in the room wrote the constitution? FYI angry Donna, women didn't have the right to vote when they wrote it either and black men voted 50 yrs before any woman could.

,,,and there are people in this room people who have written these rules since the beginning of time and I am sure WE will change them before the end of time...but we come in the spirit of unity because we come from a party that have worked for at least the last 4 decades, especially since Lyndon Johnson said voting is the lifeblood of our democracy. He put his pen on a document that came about because people marched and they died for this right to vote, so I just hope that as we talk about fairness and what's flawed and what's principle and what reflects the true intention of the voters, that we also pay tribute to those who might have written in and those who may have not have showed up because they didn't think their vote would matter that day--so we reflect them all. And I'll compromise and I just wanted to put that on the record as well.

Race in America is a goddam joke. Black men had the right to vote since 1870. Johnson abolished the conditions that blacks had to meet in order to vote. The first black man vote in 1870 and and women 50 yrs later. Blacks were still voting between 1870 and 1964. Women didn't have a chance to pass the literacy exam or pay a poll tax and when they marched they also got beaten and jailed.

How many black men stood next to them in the fight?

And how many white woman stood hand in hand with black men on the march?

The primaries were forever tainted by the back room brokering. Except this time it wasn't just pink-faced men. After their closed proceedings - a violation - they came out and give Obama delegates from a state in which his name was not on the ballot. Hos is that not cheating by any mama's standards?

The nomination of barry was fundamentally illegal. Thus the entire process is tainted start to finish.

Step back and think if the colors were reversed. Never happen. That is prejudice. 'That is The Double Standard.