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Achaemenid HGW XX/7 from Ruschestraße 103, Haus 1 Since: Dec, 2011 Relationship Status: Giving love a bad name
HGW XX/7
#50476: Mar 2nd 2013 at 11:49:33 AM

Rape rarely leads to pregnancy, according to the California GOP.

Another day, another Republican making an ill-advised comment about rape. Celeste Greig, the head of the largest GOP volunteer organization in California — Ronald Reagan once called the California Republican Assembly “the conscience of the Republican Party — told the Woodland, California Daily Democrat that rape almost never leads to pregnancies because the body is too traumatized.

“Granted, the percentage of pregnancies due to rape is small because it’s an act of violence, because the body is traumatized. I don’t know what percentage of pregnancies are due to the violence of rape. Because of the trauma the body goes through,” she told the newspaper before arriving at the state GOP’s spring convention in Sacramento.

Ironically, she got on the subject while criticizing Rep. Todd Akin, the former Missouri Senate candidate who infamously said women’s bodies have a way of shutting down pregnancies in the case of “legitimate rape.” “That was an insensitive remark,” Greig said. “I’m sure he regretted it. He should have come back and apologized.” Greig, however, went on to essentially reaffirm part of Akin’s logic.

Some studies have found that women are actually more likely to get pregnant from rape, because contraception is often not used, while others have found the rate is similar to that of consensual sex. In any case, pregnancy from rape is very very real.

The remark drew immediate rebuke from California Democrats. “It’s just outrageous, beyond absurd. It’s insulting. It’s the same line of thinking of ‘If we just dress differently, or behave differently, we won’t be raped.’ They’re basically saying ‘while we’re being raped, if we hate it enough we won’t get pregnant,’” Democratic Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner of Berkeley told the newspaper.

Republican pollsters and other strategists have warned GO Pers to stop talking about rape all together, as it never leads to good things, but that moratorium sometimes seems impossible considering the obsession with abortion of many in the party.

Charming, ain't it. Even more chilling is the fact that it is a woman saying these things.

Schild und Schwert der Partei
3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#50477: Mar 2nd 2013 at 11:57:23 AM

-.- Can the GOP please finally stop the human physiology amateur hour?

"You can reply to this Message!"
Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#50478: Mar 2nd 2013 at 11:57:24 AM

I'm a guy, so I may be completely wrong about this, but isn't pregnancy possible for about a week out of every month? That doesn't sound like a 'rarely' thing.

Also, the body just goes, "time to fulfill my genetic imperative!" without bothering to check with your conscious mind. You can't skip all precautions and just think, "I'm not going to have a kid". It doesn't work that way.

edited 2nd Mar '13 12:00:42 PM by Zendervai

3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#50479: Mar 2nd 2013 at 12:00:55 PM

Maybe they think that even back when we were still Homo erectus we only had consentual sex. Or they simply believe we in Adam and Eve...

"You can reply to this Message!"
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#50480: Mar 2nd 2013 at 12:15:28 PM

I swear the GOP needs to put out a memo saying "Stop talking about rape you idiots, even if you're a woman! If you get in trouble we are not bailing you out!"

It probably wouldn't help but if they make it clear their party finds these statements reprehensible it will be far easier to remove these idiots from power.

edited 2nd Mar '13 12:15:52 PM by Kostya

TheyCallMeTomu Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#50481: Mar 2nd 2013 at 12:35:07 PM

They had a memo. it explicitly said "if you're about to talk about rape, don't."

They got the memo. They just choose not to adhere to it.

DrTentacles Cephalopod Lothario from Land of the Deep Ones Since: Jul, 2012 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Cephalopod Lothario
#50483: Mar 2nd 2013 at 7:48:53 PM

So what the fuck's going to happen with the sequesture? How are the Democrats going to fix this?

I say the democrats, because the republicans apparently hate America. (Not hyperbole. There is no fucking justification for letting the sequester take place that doesn't involve desire to see America become an impoverished third world-hellhole.)

And why aren't the Congressmen getting salary cuts?

edited 2nd Mar '13 7:49:20 PM by DrTentacles

TheyCallMeTomu Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#50484: Mar 2nd 2013 at 7:49:57 PM

Because they'd have to have voted for said cuts.

DrTentacles Cephalopod Lothario from Land of the Deep Ones Since: Jul, 2012 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Cephalopod Lothario
#50485: Mar 2nd 2013 at 7:51:05 PM

  • Sigh*

Who's fucking idea was it to let anyone on earth determine their own salary.

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#50486: Mar 2nd 2013 at 7:55:39 PM

That's easy. Congress votes on how much money the country spends, so they vote on how much to pay themselves. Who else is going to do it?

edited 2nd Mar '13 7:56:29 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
DrTentacles Cephalopod Lothario from Land of the Deep Ones Since: Jul, 2012 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Cephalopod Lothario
#50487: Mar 2nd 2013 at 7:56:52 PM

Popular vote. wink

Think about it considering the 9% approval rating.

We can raise or lower it based on how well we think they're doing.

You'd think the die-hard capitalists would be all over that.

edited 2nd Mar '13 7:57:34 PM by DrTentacles

Discar Since: Jun, 2009
#50488: Mar 2nd 2013 at 8:01:33 PM

At the very least, the House should set the Senate's salaries and vice versa. (don't know if it already works like that)

Writing a post-post apocalypse LitRPG on RR. Also fanfic stuff.
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#50489: Mar 2nd 2013 at 8:04:38 PM

[up][up]These same die hard capitalist that reject golden parachutes for failed CE Os? Oh wait.tongue

And if the Republicans want to continue alienating women... that's fine by me. Their positions will allow the Dems to reuse Obama's tactics on focusing on key groups that they have needlessly alienated, Hispanics, single/educated women, blacks and everyone under 30. Hope they enjoy never winning the White House.

edited 2nd Mar '13 8:05:08 PM by Rationalinsanity

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#50490: Mar 2nd 2013 at 8:06:41 PM

They could tie the salary to the minimum wage. Three times the minimum hourly pay seems fair. This way they either have to raise the minimum wage or work more often if they want money.

Another way would be saying it can only be twice the median family income.

edited 2nd Mar '13 8:07:49 PM by Kostya

DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Wandering Jew
#50491: Mar 2nd 2013 at 8:10:17 PM

Karl Rove tells California's struggling GOP to work harder, diversify

edited 2nd Mar '13 8:10:38 PM by DeviantBraeburn

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016
DrTentacles Cephalopod Lothario from Land of the Deep Ones Since: Jul, 2012 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Cephalopod Lothario
#50492: Mar 2nd 2013 at 8:15:24 PM

[up][up] I like the average income idea.

Pykrete NOT THE BEES from Viridian Forest Since: Sep, 2009
NOT THE BEES
#50493: Mar 2nd 2013 at 8:48:19 PM

Average income doesn't necessarily mean much because our wage discrepancy causes it to be bloated upward by extreme outliers. For instance, University of North Carolina tried to plug one of its programs by advertising some ridiculous average wage of its graduates...but neglected to mention that one of said graduates was Michael Fucking Jordan and deleting his considerably higher income from the data caused the average to tank back down to quite mediocre numbers.

To the relevant point, the average wage in the US is in the area of $48k...but the median wage that most of us are actually at is barely half that.

Ultimately, all average wage in the country measures is how much total money is in circulation compared to how many people there are. It says nothing about distribution.

edited 2nd Mar '13 8:49:33 PM by Pykrete

DrTentacles Cephalopod Lothario from Land of the Deep Ones Since: Jul, 2012 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Cephalopod Lothario
#50494: Mar 2nd 2013 at 8:51:58 PM

[up] Yeah. I meant Median, not average. My bad.

AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#50495: Mar 2nd 2013 at 8:58:17 PM

48k is still a hell of a lot less than most of the Congress makes through other means, though.

Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#50496: Mar 2nd 2013 at 9:19:35 PM

It would have to be median instead of average. I wish they would enact something like this. If they're going to be greedy then their greed might as well indirectly benefit the rest of us.

Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#50497: Mar 2nd 2013 at 10:18:25 PM

Well, if you're in Congress for the money in the first place, you're either doing it wrong or else Congress is just a stepping stone to the actual money.

Lobbyists, of course, make more than the President.

RavenWilder Since: Apr, 2009
#50498: Mar 2nd 2013 at 10:55:57 PM

It's worth pointing out that Congresspeople have an added expense that most people don't: their job is in Washington, D.C., so they have to have a place to live there, but they're also required, by law, to maintain a residence in their home state/district. That might be hard to manage on a median wage income.

Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#50500: Mar 3rd 2013 at 6:29:14 AM

Sequester Insanity -- Why the Pentagon budget cuts are far worse than you think: Looks like the Sequester cuts are already happening — it's a 9% cut on every single individual program.

And expect no flypasts or air shows either. They've all been cancelled, along with the USAF Thunderbirds entire 2013 Program.

edited 3rd Mar '13 6:30:37 AM by Greenmantle

Keep Rolling On

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