- MENU
- HOME
- SEARCH
- WORLD
- MAIN
- AFRICA
- ASIA
- BALKANS
- EUROPE
- LATIN AMERICA
- MIDDLE EAST
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Benelux
- Brazil
- Canada
- China
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- India
- Indonesia
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Korea
- Mexico
- New Zealand
- Pakistan
- Philippines
- Poland
- Russia
- South Africa
- Spain
- Taiwan
- Turkey
- USA
- BUSINESS
- WEALTH
- STOCKS
- TECH
- HEALTH
- LIFESTYLE
- ENTERTAINMENT
- SPORTS
- RSS
- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Mary Sanchez
Ladies, remember what your mothers told you about men who regard women as sex objects? They're no good.
Keep that in mind when pondering the
Why is so much prime time attention being paid to
They have fought strenuously to defund Planned Parenthood, to pass laws that treat abortion patients cruelly, to regulate the procedure into oblivion, and to use the issue as a monkey wrench to shut down legislation that has nothing to do with it (the ploy almost succeeded in the fight against President Obama's health care reform bill).
Now comes an obscure congressman running for
The elephants are now in full stampede away from Rep. Todd Akin, but only because his insane remarks about "legitimate rape" have been noticed. Bad move. Now, as the
Along with Akin, Rep. Paul Ryan was an original cosponsor of legislation that introduced "forcible rape" into the political lexicon. Their "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act" bill thankfully died without passage. But it would have redefined abortion rights based on absurd distinctions between kinds of rape, with statutory rape and date rape being addressed differently than the more rare violent attacks by strangers.
More than 200 other House Republicans marched in lockstep and voted for it, along with a handful of Democrats. All who supported this outrageous pettifogging of something as serious as rape need to be held accountable.
Still, if women concentrate on these outrages alone, we will fail to address other crucial women's issues: equal pay, freedom from workplace discrimination, access to health care, a working social safety net, and a healthy
Mitt Romney repeatedly ducked when asked about the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a sore subject for conservatives. Obama signed the wage discrimination bill into law as his first act as president. Eventually, Romney conceded that he wouldn't try to repeal it.
Nevertheless, if elected president, Romney will have the power to fill vacancies on the
If Romney and Ryan win, look for them to undo the automatic defense spending cuts set to go into effect in January and replace them with cuts to programs that affect single mothers disproportionately, such as
This year's election ought to be about women getting respect. We deserve to be spoken to by politicians in ways that encompass all of us -- head to toe, mind and body, birth to old age.
And yet, for all this talk of "war" and treating women as victims, here's a point people are overlooking: In 2012, women are competing to win more seats in
That's right.
More female candidates are on ballots than any year in American history.
How they fare in November, and then in
AMERICAN POLITICS
WORLD | AFRICA | ASIA | EUROPE | LATIN AMERICA | MIDDLE EAST | UNITED STATES | ECONOMICS | EDUCATION | ENVIRONMENT | FOREIGN POLICY | POLITICS
Akin Offers Unflattering Glimpse of Widely Shared Republican Attitudes | Politics
© iHaveNet