The War On Women

[philunderwood]

drsanity.blogspot.com/

Dr. Sanity
Shining a psychological spotlight on a few of the insanities of life


Wednesday, April 18, 2012

STOP ALLOWING THE LEFT'S RHETORICAL STRATEGIES TO DEFINE THE DEBATE

Barbara Boxer says the "war on women" is real!
Suppose it’s the championship basketball game and one player is committing foul after foul. Each time, he denies he’s committed any offense.

Eventually, he fouls out. But even as he heads to the bench, he’s protesting that he did nothing wrong.

That’s what we’re seeing today from Republicans who claim there is no “war on women.” The Republican National Committee chairman likened it to a “war on caterpillars.” The Senate Republican leader claims it’s all manufactured – even as female members of his caucus warn about the growing backlash against the GOP from women.

But whether it’s sports or politics, denials don’t change the facts. So let’s look at them

She cites as her basis for the "war" bills that would "restrict a woman's reproductive health care", including of course, abortion, family planning, violence against women, and preventive health care (e.g. mammograms, STDs etc etc). She cites the despicable opposition to Obamacare as yet more evidence that Republicans are anti-woman, hence the "war on women".

Republicans and conservatives, instead of saying that these issues have nothing to do with one segment of the population (i.e. "women" or "blacks" or whatever little victim group the left has split out from the whole) and that they have to do with important and crucial concepts and values such as limited government, individual freedom, and personal responsibility, seem eager to meet the left on its own turf.

Ramesh Ponnuru suggests that Mitt Romney should ignore this supposed "gener gap" because the whole notion is a myth:
Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign is obsessed with the women’s vote.

On the day after Rick Santorum dropped out of the race and removed all doubt Romney would be the nominee, the campaign issued five press releases within three hours on the theme that President Barack Obama’s economic record has failed American women: one featuring comments by Romney, four highlighting remarks by female Republican politicians supporting him.

It might be a good strategy, if the women’s vote existed.

Romney and the Republican National Committee argue that Obama’s energy policy is making women pay higher gas prices; that his economic policy is disproportionately costing them jobs; that the Obama White House pays female aides less than male ones. The RNC has been especially eager to repeat former aide Anita Dunn’s claim (which she later said was taken out of context) that although Obama himself was blameless, his White House was “a genuinely hostile workplace to women.”

Everyone understands why Republicans are mounting this attack. They are responding to weeks of Democratic charges that they are waging a “war on women.” A recent USA Today/Gallup poll that found Romney losing support among women younger than 50 in swing states has especially alarmed them. EMPHASIS MINE.

Ponuru is absolutely correct. Republicans are responding to weeks (years, decades) of Democratic charges on this issue. AND THE DEMOCRATS ALWAYS SEEM TO WIN THE DAY.
Not because they are actually correct or have truth on their side; not simply because they have the media referrees on their side, but because they always set the ground rules and they always insist on playing in their home court.

The "war on women" meme is not real, that is, it has no reality. Neither is the charge of Republicans being "anti-Black" or racist; or anti-poor. These memes are just a few of the ongoing, politically correct rhetorical strategies adopted by Democrats and the progressive postmodern left in general, to achieve their ends.

There is no desire for rational argument on the Democrats' part because Truth is not the objective of their rhetoric. Stephen Hicks in his book quotes Frank Lentricchia, a noted Duke University literary critic. Postmodernism, says Lentricchia, "seeks not to find the foundation or conditions of truth but to exercise power for the purpose of social change [emphasis mine]."

Postmodern rhetoric explicitly rejects truth, and because of this those who use it are completely indifferent to consistency and dismissive of reason.Hence they tend to loathe rational debate and make sure that any discussion of issues plays out with their rules.

Look past the superficiality of Boxer's "arguments" about Republicans. Why is government even involved in the issues she cites? When did we conservatives give up the fundamental fight about the role of government in our lives? When did we stop caring about individual freedom and personal responsibility?

Well, it began when the accusations of being "anti-woman", or "racist" or whatever, started being hurled around. These accusations--even if they are completely unfounded--are political poison for the person on the receiving end of them. So in the hysteria to respond, the accused almost always says, "NO! I'm not racist, sexist, [fill in your favorite here]! But by doing so, he or she has already lost the ability to have the debate be on the issues that are important, and have ceded the rules.

For the Republican or conservative the debate is about freedom vs slavery--it is about the right to pursue your own life, liberty and happiness. It is about the importance of every individual human life to be free to live their lives without the State telling them what to do.

Think about what the postmodern left's PC and multicultural gurus preach in their high-minded, superior rhetoric that inevitably brands anyone who dares to disagree with a racist label. Then WATCH WHAT THEIR RHETORIC ACTUALLY BRINGS ABOUT in real life. It is in the tribal and entitlement behavior that you begin to see the toxicity of this dogma; as well as the essential oppressive nature of the politically correct behavior that adherence to the religion of multiculturalism demands of us.

Having given up any objective standard by which to mediate the vastly different perspectives and world views that each disparate group brings to the table; having abandoned reason altogether in favor of expressing some feel-good platitudes about a supposedly essential "need to belong" to one's race, tribe, religion or group first and foremost; the outcome is what Hicks refers to as "group balkinization" --with all its inevitable and inescapable disunity, disharmony and conflict.

After that the complementary dogma of political correctness is used to stifle free speech and to further obscure reality.

This PC dogma is antithetical to the concept of the universalism of human experience that is the bedrock of civilization; and instead glorifies sexual, cultural and tribal differences, no matter how insane or irrational.

Multiculturalism teaches that what is truly important above all else is belonging to one's sexual, racial, ethnic, or religious identity, and not that one also belongs to the family of humankind. If the former is held superior, then "social withdrawal" from community and a pervasive distrust of other groups follows quite naturally; including conflicts between different nations, religions and ethnic groups.

What the Obama Administration and the Democrats are doing right now is to divide America up into as many victimhood groups as possible.

The only "universal" that is shared under such circumstances is a committment to disharmony and, lurking beneath the overt moral relativism, is a grandiose sense of entitlement from each group as it jockeys for postion in the victimhood status heirarchy.

Ponnuru comments, "Republicans deserve credit for resisting the idea -- the lazy instinct -- that what female voters care most about are "women's issues." The party should take the crucial step of seeing that women don't have to be courted on the basis of their sex at all."

But principled Republicans and conservatives should resist even more strongly. They should refuse to play the game the Democrats are playing and always bring the discussion back to the essential concepts and ideas that made this nation at one time the most desirable place for free men and women to live.

Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity

[philunderwood]

www.qando.net/?tag=pay-equality

Senate Dems: Loud, but clueless

Published May 25, 2012 | By Bruce McQuain

If you were a group pushing legislation called the “Paycheck Fairness Act” that demanded gender equity in pay and benefits for working women (i.e. women being paid the same as men) and were beating up the other side and accusing them of making “war on women”, do you suppose before you did either you’d ensure your skirts were clean (no pun intended)?

Would you ensure you were paying women in your employ equally before trotting out your bombastic accusations?

Well most smart folks would, but we’re talking about Democratic Senators here. Five female Democratic Senators held a press conference yesterday in which they did exactly that – demanded equal pay for women and beat up Republicans. But:


Of the five senators who participated in Wednesday’s press conference—Barbara Mikulski (D., Md.), Patty Murray (D., Wash.), Debbie Stabenow (D., Mich.), Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) and Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.)—three pay their female staff members significantly less than male staffers.

Murray, who has repeatedly accused Republicans of waging a “war a women,” is one of the worst offenders. Female members of Murray’s staff made about $21,000 less per year than male staffers in 2011, a difference of 35.2 percent.

That is well above the 23 percent gap that Democrats claim exists between male and female workers nationwide.

Its not just the Democratic women in the Senate though:


The pay differential is quite striking in some cases, especially among leading Democrats. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), who runs the Senate Democratic messaging operation, paid men $19,454 more on average, a 36 percent difference.

Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) paid men $13,063 more, a difference of 23 percent.

Other notable Senators whose “gender pay gap” was larger than 23 percent:
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.)—47.6 percent
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D., N.M.)—40 percent
Sen. Jon Tester (D., Mont.)—34.2 percent
Sen. Ben Cardin (D., Md.)—31.5 percent
Sen. Tom Carper (D., Del.)—30.4 percent
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.)–29.7 percent
Sen. Kent Conrad (D., N.D.)–29.2 percent
Sen. Bill Nelson (D., Fla.)—26.5 percent
Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore)—26.4 percent
Sen. Tom Harkin (D., Iowa)—23.2 percent

By the way, you do recall that one of the first pieces of legislation passed in the Obama administration was something called the “Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act” which supposedly “solved” the gender pay disparity issue? Hey, it’s in all of Obama’s campaign literature.


“We passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act—the first bill I signed—so that equal pay for equal work is a reality all across this country,” he said in June 2009.

And you can see how well it “solved” the disparities that exist among Democratic Senatorial staffs, can’t you?

Forward!

~McQ

[philunderwood]

drsanity.blogspot.com/

Dr. Sanity
Shining a psychological spotlight on a few of the insanities of life

Thursday, October 25, 2012A

RELIGION WITHOUT A SOUL

If you needed more evidence of the inherent hatred of humanity and life that is implicit (and explicit) in the religion of Islam, then read this article fron The Guardian:

The pickup halted in Kidal, the far-flung Malian desert town that is home to members of the Grammy award-winning band Tinariwen. Seven AK47-toting militiamen got out and marched to the family home of a local musician. He wasn't home, but the message delivered to his sister was chilling: "If you speak to him, tell him that if he ever shows his face in this town again, we'll cut off all the fingers he uses to play his guitar with."

The gang then removed guitars, amplifiers, speakers, microphones and a drum kit from the house, doused them with petrol, and set them ablaze. In northern Mali, religious war has been declared on music.

When a rabble of different Islamist groups took control of the region in April there were fears that its rich culture would suffer. But no one imagined that music would almost cease to exist – not in Mali, a country that has become internationally renowned for its sound.

"Music regulates the life of every Malian," adds Cheich Tidiane Seck, a prolific Malian musician and producer. "From the cradle to the grave. From ancient times right up to today. A Mali without music? No … I mean … give me another one!""Culture is our petrol," says Toumani Diabaté, the Malian kora player who has collaborated with Damon Albarn and Björk, to name but a few. "Music is our mineral wealth. There isn't a single major music prize in the world today that hasn't been won by a Malian artist."

And yet that is the bland reality dawning on this once joy-filled land. International observers claim the leaders of the three armed Islamic groups who now control the northern Malian cities of Timbuktu, Kidal and Gao are motivated by money and power rather the dream of a caliphate in the Sahel. There are strong ties between these groups and the less than holy interests of major drug-traffickers and arms smugglers.

But many of the mujahideen who have zoned in on the conflict from all over the Muslim world are fired by an unquestionable religious zeal. The same goes for Iyad Ag Ghaly, a Touareg strongman and born-again Salafist, who founded the Ansar-ud-Deen movement at the end of last year.
[...]
An official decree banning all western music was issued on 22 August by a heavily bearded Islamist spokesman in the city of Gao. "We don't want the music of Satan. Qur'anic verses must take its place. Sharia demands it," the decree says.

The ban comes in the context of a horrifically literal and gratuitous application of Sharia law in all aspects of daily life. Militiamen are cutting off the hands and feet of thieves or stoning adulterers. Smokers, alcohol drinkers and women who are not properly attired are being publicly whipped. As one well-known Touareg musician from Kidal says: "There's a lack of joy. No one is dancing. There are no parties. Everybody's under this kind of spell. It's strange."

It's not at all strange. It's the joyless existence that Islam wants to impose on the entire world--and if you haven't noticed, then you've been asleep for the last decade or more.

At The Corner, Andrew McCarthy weighs in:

The Guardian attributes the atrocious penalties to the “menace of al-Qaida”; it also notes, however, that the “ban [on music] comes in the context of a horrifically literal and gratuitous application of Sharia law in all aspects of daily life.”

Much as I hate to be the bearer of bad news, al Qaeda did not make up sharia law. Islam did. And in the West, it is a key tenet of due process that law is imposed literally — ambiguous laws violate the principle that people of ordinary intelligence must be on fair notice of what is prohibited. There’s nothing “gratuitous” about applying as it is written.

We can keep our heads tucked snug in the sand, or we can recognize the source of the problem.

Many people in this country prefer to keep their heads in the sand. Many people, including our current President prefer to talk about some ridiculous "war on women" that those eeeeeevilllll Republicans are waging. But it is Islam that is waging the real war on women, as Martha McSally reminds us:

I’m a woman warrior. I’ve been fighting for women’s rights and women’s equality my whole life.

You want to talk about a war on women? Walk in my shoes down the streets of Kabul. Walk in my shoes down the streets of Riyadh; where women have to be covered up. Where they’re stoned, where they’re honor killed if they’ve been raped , where they can’t drive and they can’t travel without the permission of a male relative.

That’s a war on women.

She is absolutely correct, but I would go even a step further: Islam represents not only an anti-woman agenda, it promotes a fully anti-human, anti-life, anti-joy and anti-peace agenda. The blood-thirsty god Islam worships thrives on human nisery,suffering and death; Allah revels in destruction and chaos, and his followers never fail to disappoint.

Anything that brings joy or that elevates the spirit, must be banned. Anyone who disagrees will be mercilessly killed.

I have already discussed how humor is almost non existent in the Muslim world ( except for the cruel and sadistic variety whose goal is to demonize non-Muslims).

Let me be clear: I do not believe that Muslims are bad or inherently evil. I believe they are every bit as human as Jews or Christins or Hindus or Buddhists. However, that reality has nothing to do with the supposed "wonderfulness" or "peacefulness" of the Islamic idology they embrace, which as far as I can tell caters to and fosters the absolute worse aspects of human nature.

The ideology of Islam has one purpose and one purpose only: to deny and ultimaely eradicate the essence of any human good. It is a religion that destroys the soul.

Amd. instead of standing up for the good and best within the human spirit; instead of standing firm for the values of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness; the current President of the United States is busy demonizing Republicans even as he accommodates and appeases the real monsters of the world whose nuclear dreams will enable them to facilitate the spread of their viscious misogyny; and to enslave the minds of everyone--whether female or male.