Commerce Clause & AFA Pt. 1

Oh, what fun we're having. We as in me. Fun as in reading with glee all the many and nefarious ways that Barack is beating Antoin and Clarence over the head right about now.  Somewhere deep down in my sick twisted sense of humor, I hear Barack say to Clarence, in that exclusively I'mblacknurrblacksoIcangetawaywithit way of saying "[censored], I HAVE GOTCHYO ASS." Because, the Affordable Care Act is constitutional. Unless.  There's that word again. Unless. Thank you, Dr. Suess. It's such a good word and you have reminded me of it yet again.

The AFA is constitutional unless you want to limit the power of the federal government. This is a Republican, conservative court mind you. Limit the power of the federal government is not something conservative courts usually do. Ever. Even progressive, liberal courts don't do it. No 'unless' really needs to apply here. EVER. Not once in the history of US has that happened.

It's like this. There is all this power out here in the land of US. What does not belong to the fed, belongs to the states. Unless. It affects interstate commerce.  Because of that silly little sentence that says US shall have the power to regulate Commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states [do take note of the Oxford comma, it's totally relevant here as we'll see later on], and with the Indian Tribes.  For all this, we have regulation on telephones, what goes through the mail, highways, navigable waters, medicine, food, alcohol, you friggin name it. It's all federal power. Unless it's not. The state has been regulating something (employment contracts for instance) for all of history, but now, the fed wants to it with the Labor Relations Board. STATES' RIGHTS everybody screams. DORMANT COMMERCE CLAUSE the supremes scream right back in a big loud kissmyass voice.  WHA?  The fed always had that power just chose not to use it, in which case the states are free to use it until the fed wants to and then it's the DORMANT COMMERCE CLAUSE that kicks in and sucks all the power away from the states.

For the last forever, states have been regulating health insurance. States have insurance commissioners, and laws and rules and all kinds of charts and arrows and notations and such. Now, with the AFA, the fed has said - it's my power now, suck it states. And the states are suing. They've tried this before. Never won.

Ah, you say. But isn't this just what those asswaffle tea baggers are wanking about? Yes, it is. But, those asswaffle tea baggers are states rights morons and the supreme court does not give one fat rat's ass about them. Nope. When was the last time you heard of a state's rights case being upheld by the supremes? Yeah, right, me either. Good luck with that one. Why? Well, for starters, they aren't asswaffle tea baggers - they are FEDERAL JUDGES.  When payday comes, they are snarfing out of the federal trough, not the states' rights trough. So, not too likely they will rule in favor of taking away power from themselves.

Also, several of them are flag waving greedy ass self appointed sanctimonious holier than thou intellectual aristocrats (aka gasbags). When was the last time you heard of a gasbag voluntarily relinquishing power when his nuts weren't in a literal (not even figurative) vise?  Me either. Letting go of federal power is not a likely scenario.

I'm No Sexist - I'll have Cream and Sugar With That

I know a lot of men who really, truly are NOT sexist. They love women. Really. They respect women. Openly and out loud, even in front of other men. Well, unless they're men they don't know all that well. Or, unless there aren't any women around. Or, well, unless they're just minding their own business. Truly, they would never vote to interfere with a woman's right to choose, or stand in her way, God forbid, should his significant she ever have to choose. Nor would he not celebrate her raise, her promotion, her advanced degree. He is TOTALLY liberated and progressive at all times.

Unless.  It's a show on televsion where one of the characters played by Charlie Sheen is more than just little bit sexist.  C'mon, men. Somebody was watching that show. But, we know it wasn't you.

Unless.  It's a radio broadcast in his boss's car spewing angry Rush-ness. Sure, I would demand it be turned off, but I'm a woman. And, if another woman is in the car, does a good man let her make the call, or does he do for himself. Because, really, who does want to listen to that hate? But, we know you would.

Unless. It's porn. Where women just want that big old macho man to rock her hard in the ass and come all over her face! Right. Porn isn't made for women and women do NOT (at least the ones I know) really want it that way. Neither do you. Really.

Unless. It's video games. Where women barely exist and when they do, they are so overly bodified and sexualized that even Barbie feels fucking inadequate. But you don't want (or, ok, at least expect to ever get) a woman like that. You appreciate a woman's mind, too, we know.

Unless. It's beer commercials, which have improved but still fall back on the hot babes will fuck you if you buy this beer routine which is usually NOT true, but most especially NOT true of the beer being advertised.

Unless, unless, unless - I could go on. Does the 'girl' at your office make the coffee, do the dishes, clean out the 'fridge, water the  plants? In an office romance, who looks for another job when the romance ends? Do you refer to any woman working in certain jobs as a 'girl'? Do you refer to any female over age 18 as a girl? Yes, you, too, are a  sexist. So, am I. Men should kill bugs, fix cars, and worship the ground I walk on, make the world safe for democracy, have a tea party with his daughter, stand 10' tall always.  Unless . . . he's human, as am I.

Rally In Huntsville - JUST GO

Busy much? Yep, me too.  That being said, our attention is needed. Women are getting the short end of the stick in state legislatures these days. Especially this week. Neoconservatives have taken it upon themselves to impose their own strange version of Sharia law upon women. Everything from transvaginal ultrasound to allowing employers the decision on what reproductive choices are appropriate for a woman have been imposed in more than 80 laws passed just this week. Google it. I'm not into providing sources for that at the moment.

Sunday, 3/18/2012, a lot of women and men are getting together in Huntsville for a rally for womens' rights. Sure, they are focusing on their own state laws, but they are including all women and all of America in their protest. Information about the rally: http://blog.al.com/breaking/2012/03/rally_to_stop_war_on_womens_ri.html

I'm planning to be there - sporting my new walking shoes, fancy camera and all the indignation I can muster.  Please join us. Millions of women and girls (and men and boys) will thank you one day.

M-M-M-M-MY VAGINA

People don't like that word. It makes them uncomfortable for some reason. I don't know why. I just know it does. This comes from my abject talent at being able to figure out a person's buttons - those things they push to set themselves off into a funk/anger/rage/whatever. It's a survival skill developed from a tortured childhood wherein knowing such information was essential to avoiding catastrophe.

The only thing that seems to bother people more than saying 'vagina' is saying "MY VAGINA". Making it actually personal is just, well, TMI. Perplexed about this phenom, I Googled it. That's what we do these days. It used to be those horrid little books in libraries that listed every article published by every publisher on just about any topic. Now, it's Google. Even an article in Psychology Today takes one whole paragraph and some 100 words before it actually names it and then, the fine physician who wrote it, a woman, calls it "VAJAYJAY". Don't believe me? Google it.

According to this same illustrious source, some vaginas do have teeth. It's happened. It's called a dermoid cyst. Men apparently have a deep primal understanding of this possibility. Still, given there has not been one single documented case of vaginal teeth castration, the fear if utterly absurd.

Be that as it may, it's not as absurd as some other ideas about vaginas. Pervasive cultural beliefs that vaginas are inherently yukamondo are legion. Physicians world wide offer procedures to make them prettier (lay still, Georgia O'Keefe), less smelly (only if you really have something not good going on) and tastes bad (sperm - yummy). Enter the Linger Internal Vaginal Flavoring, or Altoids for your vagina. Sugar pussy! Which can lead to yeast infection galore. Yum.

The web page AskMen.com has a whole guide to the vagina and her accoutrements. It's fairly accurate, but what disturbed me was a 'first impression' poll rating the article that showed that it angered 5% of the men who read it. 11% laughed. Truly, in a statistical fight, women are no better or worse. It was a woman who coined the termed 'vajayjay' and women who repeat it daily. In fact, my African American name is Shanaynay in her honor. C'est la vie.

There will be a V-Day - February 14, 2013. The European Parliament will perform the Vagina Monologues, among other events worldwide to drive end violence against women. www.vday.org has the goods on all that's going.

Most disturbing to me is the plethora of ads for designer vagina surgery. Seriously. Apparently, it is now also necessary that we have perfectly pretty pusses, not just clean, functional ones. No man on earth would have surgery on his penis to make it prettier. Not a chance. Nor have I ever heard of man saying "honey, I don't mean to be one, but little Suzie is kinda of a honker - I just can't stand to look at it." Frankly, most of the men I've discussed this with have voluntarily gone off on great, profound oratories on the various beauties and delights and the plethora of glorious attributes they find wonderful about the whole area, hair included. In all my days, I have never once heard one single complaint, about me or anybody else.

Hit 'Em Where It Hurts

One of the big cries of the neocons is that, while we scream about Rush's denigration of Sandra Fluke, nobody showed outrage over Bill Maher's calling Sarah Palin a T**T. Except, we did. NOW did. In March 2011. And before. And since. Lisa Bennett, wrote on a NOW blog later Tuesday: “Listen, supposedly progressive men (ok, and women, too): Cut the crap! Stop degrading women with whom you disagree and/or don’t like by using female body terms or other gender-associated slurs." And the neocons know it. For the full article on the above quote, check out Fox News. Read more: "http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/03/23/slams-maher-sarah-palin-insult-chides-media-asking

But, neocons go further and decry Progressives for calling Palin and Bachman "Morons I'd Like to Forget".  The issue here is different though. That isn't really sexism talking, so much as reasonable opinion based on discernible fact. Palin and Bachman, objectively speaking, are not the brightest stars in the sky. Bachman has college and law degrees to tout as her claim to intellectual stardom, but anybody who is anybody knows that having degrees does not make you intelligent. Education is what you make of it.

Bachman has made a showing of stupidity by saying such things as 'not all cultures are equal' and 'there isn't even one study that shows carbon dioxide is a harmful gas' and 'if we took away the minimum wage we could wipe out unemployment'.  http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-10-craziest-michele-bachmann-quotes

"Palin, on the other hand, says things like 'Refudiate,' 'misunderestimate,' 'wee-wee'd up.' I won't go on. You've heard the rest. Too many times. The defense to the general every day insult of these women is that they are being insulted for qualities most of us find reprehensible in political candidates: like stupidity.

Insulting women because they are, in fact, stupid is appropriate. Using expletives appropriate only to women to insult women is NOT appropriate. Bill Maher and Rush Limbaugh be forewarned. We're not gonna take it. As for stupid women who insist on supporting men and policies that obliterate rights based on gender and sexuality or race, or any other insular quality, karma's gonna get you. Oh, and karma? She's a BITCH.

Name Change

Name Change - sort of like Game Change. I always knew that one day I would change my name to suit a new sense of me. I just never knew what it would. I certainly never thought it would be Slutzky. But, there it is. That's what came up and that's what it is. The time is now.

There is a war afoot. We Americans can't seem to do without one, so we'll pull one out of the air if we have too. We did. I say 'we' in the metaphorical sense. Rush Limbaugh in this case, and his ilk, are the real 'we'. The corporations and the legislators who are attempting to take away health care and birth control are the 'we'. The shamers, the haters, the perverse mean bullies who have co-opted the Republican party, to the shame and horror of good Republicans everywhere, the neocons (neo-conservatives) of America have declared that women are less than, and sexual women, as in ALL women, are evil, repulsive, and vile.

My mother voice wants to point out that for every finger pointed at me, there are 3 more pointing back at you, but my crone me knows that's pointless. My school teacher voice wants to say that words can never hurt me, but my spirit knows that's not true. Fingers and words can be vicious tools of petty warriors, but they can still do harm. So, I will point and speak until I have obliterated each and every ignorant, mean hateful thought I possibly can. Each and every day until this insanity stops or they pry my fingers off the keyboard. Whichever comes first.

And, I will paint. And create beauty and laughter where ever I can. And I will not stoop to name calling or childish invectives, unless I just can't help it or I slip up.