Because I Can - (Tar Heel Tavern)

Because I Can..(Tar Heel Tavern)
This entry has been made especially for Billy the Blogging Poet's Tar Heel Tavern edition.

I play with my cell phone camera on a lazy Saturday afternoon - just because I can.

Check out my Republican and Democrat Beanie Babies. Note that in MY office, the Democrat always shows dominance over the Republican.



I can take a photo of my latest hair cut.



I'm cat blogging because I can. I know it's cheesy, but I've placed my Eliot Spitzer 2006 sign in a strategically noticeable place.



I took a walk through my village, then a ride through the surrounding countryside.



The photo directly above, on the right, is a Ukranian Orthodox church, which springs up majestically from the hills as you're driving along.




Syracuse University is playing Pitt this evening, and my friendly neighborhood Inn is expecting a big crowd for the game.



The photo below is of the Erie Canal, which is within easy walking distance of my home.



The upstate New York countryside..




When I say I am an American, I mean I come from a long line of Americans. My great grandmother Isabell was born in 1780. Think about that. She was an infant during the American Revolution when the Battle of Yorktown was being fought in 1781...before the signing of the US Constitution. She lived right here in Camillus where I live today. Isabell is buried in a very quiet, tiny country cemetary about 3 miles from where I am now living. I visit her often. Her husband John, my great-grandfather, was the son of a patriot - a Revolutionary War soldier. You can see my image as I'm taking a photo of Isabell's stone. It says:

Isabell
Wife of John Pelton
Died February 16, 1840
Age 60 years

I'll end with the moon - and I bid you a Goodnight.

SD State Senator Napoli - Abortion OK for 'Pious' Virgins

SD State Senator Napoli - Abortion OK for 'Pious' Virgins
Misogyny Rears its Head With Outlawing of Abortion
Dear God, Do They Really Think That Way?

I've seen some mocking of South Dakota state legislator Bill Napoli's statement on the PBS Newshour regarding the way an unwanted pregnancy can "threaten" the life of a young religious virgin woman. [Napoli had supported exemptions for cases of rape or incest to the state's abortion ban.]

BILL NAPOLI: A real-life description to me would be a rape victim, brutally raped, savaged. The girl was a virgin. She was religious. She planned on saving her virginity until she was married. She was brutalized and raped, sodomized as bad as you can possibly make it, and is impregnated. I mean, that girl could be so messed up, physically and psychologically, that carrying that child could very well threaten her life.

Let's take a step or two further, for the sake of humanity vs. gender-stereotypical religious triumphalism. Values are values. Life is life.

I didn't have to investigate to know which religious platform Napoli was speaking from. As a Catholic myself, I immediately recognized Napoli's rhetoric as "Catholicspeak." What if the virgin was a Muslim? A Wiccan? A Buddhist?

If Napoli can see how a young woman's life is "threatened" when she suddenly realizes she has an unexpected and unwanted pregnancy to deal with, then Bill Napoli is admitting that there are lives ruined and he's admitting that deep emotional scars are left behind because of the pregnancy rather than the abortion. And he's right. If he came out of his triumphalist shell, he might understand how forcing a young woman to endure an unwanted pregnancy, brought about by any means, can shatter her life's plans and/or contribute to mental illness and the suicide rate.

Napoli is dead wrong in saying that any young woman who isn't a regular Christian church-goer, and who gets raped, deserves to have her life "threatened." That is an extremely ignorant, misogynistic, and dangerous way to think. It's saying that it's okay to rape and impregnate a non-virgin because she's a dirty whore. Rapists: stay away from the church-goin' gals - grab yourself a filthy slut and South Dakota will make you s Daddy.

As the aunt of five beautiful young nieces, now children, I cringe at the thought of them growing up in today's South Dakota. Our young women need to grow up with a sense of pride, freedom, equality, respect, and dignity without the men (or women) in their government making rules about who is "decent" and who is not when it comes to their intimate choices. For all the GOP negative talk about "socialism," they become complete hypocrites by making the choices for our young women that they should be making themselves. We parents raise our girls the way we think they should go and the option to worship or not to participate in religion is completely up to the individual. If freedom of conscience is respected, as our forefathers have prescribed, government has no right to judge who is eligible for a safe, legal abortion and who is not.

If SD State Senator Bill Napoli's narrow-valued religious triumphalism had ruled the day, allowing exemptions for only freshly raped, impregnated "religious virgins" to obtain abortions in South Dakota, I guarantee you'd see a hell of a lot more rape charges going up against young South Dakota men and a lot more pregnant girls claiming to be "pious." Let's not push our young generation into this kind of false faith, fear, and judgement. It's ugly. It's apparent that misogyny has existed perenially in South Dakota. It's all rearing its ugly head once again. The abortion ban is betraying religious bigotry and public leaders are promoting a gross misunderstanding of mental illness. What a shameful step backward for women in America and their freedom of conscience.

Note: South Dakota lawmakers have rejected the idea of allowing any exemptions for cases of rape or incest to the state's abortion ban, leaving all South Dakota women subject to misogyny and disregard for their freedom and conscience. In essence, Bill Napoli, in his own way, made an admission that women are emotionally scarred by unwanted pregnancy. If I was a mother of a young man OR woman living in South Dakota today, I'd move out of that state to ensure that my children lived in an environment of the spirit of the freedom that our Founding Fathers intended for them. South Dakota will not get my tourism dollars and I will not do business with any South Dakota firms while this draconian law remains on their books.

American Street's Kevin Hayden says that South Dakota’s "sex nazis" deserve their own country. I couldn't say it any better.