That is the question that President G. W. Bush answered when he said he would leave it to the next President to end the wars and rescue our economy. Right now it is comical to see four major Republican candidates running for the Presidency without once mentioning the Bush Administration, as though they could convince us all that it never happened.
Not that President Obama gets much in the way of thanks for reversing the recession, ending the war in Iraq, getting Osama bin Laden and rescuing our economy; even Democrats seem to feel that he doesn’t really have to be respected the way a President would if he were white.
It’s interesting, isn’t it, the way the Republican candidates have decided to declare war on women. Family planning—anathema! Reproductive rights—what rights? Contraception—how dare you? I have written in this column before that the women of Arizona are regarded as a herd of brood mares by the old white men in the Republican Party—as long as they can manage it, women are to do nothing other than be fertile and bear whatever children they conceive, whenever that comes along.
And then once in awhile a black man comes along like Herman Cain, proclaiming that he is righter-than-thou in every conservative respect. And he is, too, as it comes out that he has been a serial sexual harasser for his entire career, even though he is supposed to be some kind of clergy in the Baptist Church—the black Baptist Church, that is, because the Baptists are the only Christian denomination of consequence that is openly segregated. Of course things like hypocrisy and wrongdoing don’t apply if you are a Republican, or so I heard.
And now the American Council of Catholic Bishops has taken on the President, picking a fight over insurance. Their vision of an ideal workplace model is that every employee would practice the religion of their boss, especially women. Protestant or Jewish women who work for Catholic bosses will have no access to birth control on their watch. And the candidates are promising that once they are put into office there will be personhood amendments, contraception will be outlawed and abortion will be a thing of the past.
I am watching this, wondering what will happen in the forthcoming election. Will it be a close contest, as the pundits keep saying? Do women take their role models from Republican brood mares like Karen Santorum and Ann Romney? I wonder what American women will “say” in the privacy of the voting booth—those of us who are allowed to vote after Republican governors and legislatures get through tightening the requirements for casting your ballot.
Right now in Virginia we see a law that the Governor promises to sign into existence that will literally rape women. I repeat—there is a rape law about to be signed in Virginia. The legislature proposes that a woman who seeks an abortion must undergo a trans-vaginal ultrasound as a condition of proceeding with the termination of pregnancy.
What is a trans-vaginal ultrasound, do you ask? According to Medline Plus online, “You will lie down on a table with your knees bent and feet in holders called stirrups. The health care provider will place a probe, called a transducer, into the vagina. The probe is covered with a condom and a gel. The probe sends out sound waves, which reflect off body structures. A computer receives these waves and uses them to create a picture. The doctor can immediately see the picture on a nearby TV monitor.
“The health care provider will move the probe within the area to see the pelvic organs. This test can be used during pregnancy.”
And it will be used during your pregnancy if you are a woman in Virginia who wants to terminate a pregnancy and the Governor follows through. The legislation has already been passed by the Virginia Legislature.
When a man assaults a woman sexually with an object it is called object rape. When a foreign object other than the male penis is inserted into a woman's vaginal area forcibly or unwillingly, she has been raped with an object. Object rape is the subject of the Virginia law that will force a woman to have a foreign object inserted into her vagina against her will and against the will of her doctor. This is the state that the war against women has come to in the Republican Party.
By the way, the Governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell, is considered a leading contender for the Vice Presidential running mate of the eventual Republican candidate for President this year.
Here, in Arizona and the rest of the United States.
This year, 2012. In the Twenty-First Century.
I am watching to see how American women handle this. Outrage among elected officials and television talking heads is already everywhere, but how do you feel about it?
How will you cast your vote this fall? Will you support Republicans who want to legislate mandatory rape?
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