A few days ago, I watched an interview with Angela Jolie about her new movie – first directed movie – In the Land of Blood and Honey. I was so deeply moved to witness her talking about wanting to open a discourse about the rape of women used as a weapon of war. It’s a much welcomed yet long overdue open conversation. I truly hope it helps bring the problem into awareness of our world and to heal the wounds that cause it and are caused by it.

Here in the U.S. we may agree that the rape of women as a weapon of war is horrible. Yet we have done our own atrocious acts as part of our participation in war – sexually demeaning and humiliating prisoners of war in Abu Ghraib, urinating on the bodies of slain enemies in Afghanistan, and who knows what else! But what about the use of rape in the war against women right here at home? “Not possible,” you say? Sadly, tragically, it is possible – and it is occurring.

A relatively new occurrence: There is a law recently passed in Texas – and also recently upheld by the appeals court in Texas – that makes it mandatory for a woman who seeks an abortion to have an invasive vaginal ultrasound . . . under the guise of educating her, say proponents, but in reality to intimidate her out of having the abortion.

Now most women I know would completely understand that is a form of rape . . . to be forced by your government and the law to have an object – even an ultrasound scanner – put into your vagina by your doctor . . . even if your doctor doesn’t want to do it, but more importantly, even if you don’t want it. And many of the men I know understand the truth of that, too. But there are many women and men who don’t get it . . . yet. And their not getting it passively, unconsciously allows and even helps it to go on.

Maybe this will help them get the reality of rape as a weapon in the war against women:

The FBI recently redefined rape. Now included in the definition of rape is . . . the use of an object. So, no matter the guises for the Texas law, it is in direct conflict with the FBI definition of rape.

I hope you care. I hope you care about your body being violated in that way. . . raped by an object at the hands of the government.

I hope you care about your mother’s, sister’s, daughter’s bodies being violated in that way.

I hope you care about your wife’s, girlfriend’s, fiancee’s body being violated in that way!

Too many of our women – not just in the US but all over the world – were sexually abused as children. This law and others like it would be a repeat abuse of the earlier violation and wounding.

We need to care – deeply – for if the government can force rape as a weapon in the war against women, then the people in our country who are afraid of the empowerment of women and of powerful women will be able to continue escalating the war against women . . . just like so many others have continued escalating other wars in our world.

I hope we will work together to protect our girls and women . . .

I hope we will work together to prevent the further escalation of the war against women . . . and in so doing, prevent the further escalation of war! and protect our world!

© Judith Barr, 2012

So-called budget "riders" which Republicans are attempting to impose include rollbacks of environmental regulation.

When is a fight over spending bills not about the spending?

When the battle actually is over attempts to inject unrelated conservative abortion, environmental, and other policies into must-pass legislation to keep the federal government open for business.

That’s just what’s happening now as environmental groups and others have begun to push back against Republicans who once again want to add so-called policy “riders” onto pending budget bills.

Lawmakers still must approve legislation to approve spending for most of the federal government, including the military, environmental programs, and more.

The Obama administration itself is against these riders, which Republicans are using as a back-door means to roll back regulations and enact conservative social policy.

“I haven’t seen the clear movement away from the riders that we’re going to need to see,” White House budget director Jack Lew was quoted as saying. “These issues kind of keep coming back up.”

Environmental riders reportedly include a measure which would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from being able to exercise its current authority to regulate the emissions which are blamed for climate change.

“At a time when Congress should be working to complete its long-delayed work to fund the government and extend expiring tax provisions, there is no excuse for making the process more difficult by saddling these bills with unpopular provisions that would damage health and the environment,” a coalition of environmental groups write in a letter sent to the Democratic and Republican leaders of both houses of Congress.

Injecting such riders into spending bills is nothing new.

Just earlier this year, Republicans nearly forced a government shutdown — not over the level of spending, but over policy riders like one to defund Planned Parenthood. The GOP lost that fight at the eleventh hour.

“These riders, like the many others being discussed, would not save taxpayers a dime or alter tax policy, but they would do real damage to health and the environment, and they have not received the scrutiny they require, or they have already been defeated in one chamber,” the environmental groups say of the number of anti-environmental riders Republicans are trying to force. “Congress should be spending its time trying to conclude the work it needs to complete by the end of the year, not using deadlines as an excuse to kill safeguards on which the public relies.”

Scott Nance is the editor and publisher of the news site The Washington Current. He has covered Congress and the federal government for more than a decade.

by WALTER BRASCH 

“O.K., class, we have a few minutes at the end of today’s lecture about how the godless Communists created evolution to try to destroy the decent loyal patriotic capitalist society of America. Any questions? Yes, Billy Bob.”

“Mr. Jim Bob, I heard about this thing called a person. What is that?”

“Good question. With all the distortions by the lyin’ liberal left-wing, it can get confusing. But, it’s really simple. A person is an egg that has just been fertilized by a sperm. We call this young person a Zygote.”

“Does it have to be a goat? Can it be anything else?”

“Well, Susie Bob, if you nurture it, that fertilized egg can grow up to be anything it wants to be, because this is the United States of America. And no one has the right to tell us white folks what to do.”

“Are there advantages of being a single-celled person?”

“Definitely. Their parents don’t have to wait until they emerge from the birth canal to claim them as an IRS deduction. Also, with more persons in Mississippi, we can get more single-cell congresspersons to represent us.”

“Then why did our parents vote against the constitutional amendment?”

“It was a close defeat. While those abortion activists voted against the measure, most of the opposition was because us conservatives were worried that the way the proposed amendment was written would allow them liberal types to go to Washington and overturn our states’ rights.”

“You mean Congress can do that?”

“No, Junie Bob, the Supreme Court can do that. It was a craps roll. You see, there are four decent Americans on the Supreme Court. And there are four who are women, or Jews, or both. And they were likely to say something stupid, like the state isn’t allowed to use religious dogma to justify new laws. That would mean there would be a 4–4 tie. We couldn’t trust the other judge to do what’s right, because he changes what side he’s on all the time. Even our illustrious governor said he had doubts about how broad that amendment was, and what the courts would do.”

“But he voted for it anyway.”

“He’s a politician, Kenny Bob. That’s what they do. Next question.”

“My mommy says that abortion and wearing condoms is murder, and to protect persons she plans to run down baby-killer doctors when she sees them on the streets.”

“Your mommy is looking out for the best interests of the fertilized egg. In that case, the courts will rule that what your mother does is justified homicide. Just like them lynchings your pappies and grandpappies might have done for fun on some hot weekend. It sent a message that we don’t tolerate uppity colored people doing dumb things like voting or demanding constitutional rights. Those were meant only for the white people.”

“Is slavery still legal?

“No, Bertie Bob, Mississippi outlawed it in 1995 when we ratified the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.”

“Why did it take so long?”

“Well, Martha Bob, you have to understand that decent conservatives just don’t go rushing into making important decisions. It takes time to figure out all the issues and their implications. Thirteen decades seemed about the right time.”

“I’m still confused Mr. Jim Bob. My pappy says that we got to keep the gummint out of our lives, like not allowing revenooers on our property. Don’t all of them laws intrude on our rights?”

“Sometimes, you have to intrude for the good of society. That’s why we have laws about who you can and can’t marry?”

“You mean, me and—?”

“Yes, Jenny Bob, I was planning to talk to you about you and your brother. Marriage has to be between a man and a woman who aren’t siblings.”

“So, it’s OK for me and Calvin Bob to marry?

“Since you’re first cousins that’s OK, just as long as marriage is between a man and a woman, as God intended.”

“Is that why we don’t like the coloreds and the Asians to marry us? I heard that half the state doesn’t want intermarriages and the rest are the colored people.”

“What people don’t understand, Beauford Bob, is that we made those laws to help the colored people. Before the War Between the States—Praise Jeff Davis and Jesus, Hallelujah!—we allowed white slave owners to have sex with anyone they wanted, as long as they were women. But, then we realized that wasn’t fair to the African people, because it diluted their purity. So, to protect the darkies, we didn’t have any choice but to forbid whites from marrying anyone with even one-eighth dark blood.”

“I heard about this thing called sodomy, which them homosexual and lesbian ladies practice. That’s just yucky.”

“Indeed it is. That’s why sodomy is a felony, and homosexuals can get 10 years in prison, where they can practice deviant. After that, they have to register as sex offenders. That’s another reason why the government is allowed into our bedrooms, so they can protect respectable voyeurs from having to participate in such immoral activity. Time for just one more question. Yes, Horatio Bob.”

“Mr. Jim Bob, how did you become so wise?”

“I’m a graduate of the Mississippi school system.”

 [Walter Brasch’s latest book is the critically-acclaimed mystery/thriller, Before the First Snow, set in rural Pennsylvania. The book is available through www.greeleyandstone.com, amazon.com, and other bookstores.]