You may recall that all-dude panel of “experts” at that recent congressional hearing on contraception. One of the reasons it was an all-dude panel was that congressional Republicans wouldn’t let Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke testify on the costs of birth control. (She later testified at a separate hearing held by Nancy Pelosi.)
Apparently stating publicly how much contraception costs when it’s not covered by insurance is basically the equivalent of pooping on the flag to some misogynistic assholes, among them the always charming Rush Limbaugh, who has denounced Fluke as a “slut” and a whore, saying, at one point, that she
went before a Congressional committee and said she’s having so much sex she’s going broke buying contraceptives and wants us to buy them.
Actually, she didn’t testify about her own experience at all.
Also, does Limbaugh even know how contraception works? Yes, the number of condoms one buys depends on how often you have sex. (Or at the very least how often you hope to have sex. Who knows how many boxes of condoms, purchased in moments of optimism, have quietly expired on the shelf waiting for their purchasers to finally get their mojo working. )
But the costs of many other forms of contraception have no relation whatsoever to the frequency of sex. Women on “the pill” take a pill every day, regardless of whether they are having sex that day or not. Women using IUDs don’t run down to the health center to have one installed every time their vagina expects a visitor.
Birth control, in short, doesn’t work like Oxycontin or Viagra, the two pills about which Limbaugh seems most knowledgeable.
Sorry to belabor the obvious, which apparently isn’t so obvious if you’re a right-wing, woman-hating asshole.
Anyway, now Limbaugh seems to think he’s entitled to watch Fluke having sex:
So Miss Fluke, and the rest of you Feminazis, here’s the deal. If we are going to pay for your contraceptives, and thus pay for you to have sex. We want something for it. … We want you post the videos online so we can all watch.
Dude, what the fuck is wrong with you?
Here’s the excerpt from his radio show in which he makes this creepy demand.
The opulent horse has superior Arabian intellect?
Oh, I think they actually want this to happen (more than it already is). Why struggle to make life better for everyone when you can keep a large chunk of the population in dire straits, guaranteeing an endless supply of dirt cheap labor, fodder for your understroked superiority complex, and convenient scapegoating?
Look, this is why a purely materialist understanding of How Things Work is never going to be sufficient. Of course it’s illogical. Eventually it’s even going to be illogical from a purely selfish point of view, because you can’t keep the zombie hordes from storming your razor-wire-guarded fortress forever. It doesn’t matter; they get off on power. Even if all they had to do to make life a paradise for everyone on earth, right now, was push a button, they wouldn’t do it, because they can’t be happy unless other people are miserable.
Covering something that 98% of American women take in their lifetime, that is relatively safe, is well tested, and that prevents pregnancy, which is expensive, time consuming and a big health risk, is a good public policy.
The fact that some Catholic bishops are having a tantrum does not change that. Fun fact! 98% of Catholic women report taking birth control!
Also, if the individual woman does not want to take birth control, this policy does not force her.
I do realize that doing something practical, like covering birth control, is against your stated beliefs, but that is not going to work as an actual argument.
Well, this is the oddest “argument” I’ve read all day, and believe me, I’ve read a lot of odd arguments today.
Really? In medieval times they drilled into people’s skulls to cure headaches. Just because something is “prescription medication” does not mean that an organization is morally obliged to pay for it. The way the laws are now, it is legally, but the moral grey area is the reason there’s a debate in the first place.
@ Xardoz
What’s funny about that is that most of the MRA movement is just a series of weird ad-homs. There’s usually very little context to MRA posts, it’s just sort of “OK so women are terrible”.
There’s usually very little context to MRA posts, it’s just sort of “OK so women are terrible”.
Let me guess – these women don’t buy into your very theoretical and restrictive dogma so they’re brainwashed.
Again, this whole conversation is revolving around birth control. So either your post was in regards to birth control, or it was a random OT rant about whether or not “prescription medicine” is always necessary.
I,, uhm.. what? Is this some common phrase or quote that I’m just not aware of?
I’m guessing so. I know he can’t be referring to me, my stock is firmly Dravidian!
Oh, I think they actually want this to happen (more than it already is). Why struggle to make life better for everyone when you can keep a large chunk of the population in dire straits, guaranteeing an endless supply of dirt cheap labor, fodder for your understroked superiority complex, and convenient scapegoating?
So what you’re sputtering about is that religious people in positions of authority are all planning this draconian scheme to overpopulate the Earth so they can somehow get more power. Never mind that they only want to determine whether or not to pay for a certain service for the very tiny sliver of people who work for them, you’ve gotta see the big picture here. While you’re never minding, never mind that many of them will die before their scheme materializes, you wouldn’t become a feminist if you wanted to think and not never mind.
TL;DR
You’ll probably screw up the world from your tinfoil consumption than the evil clergy will with their charities and birth control schemes.
What? Is it, like, Be Extra Super Racist day here in the hallowed halls of Man Boobz?
And furthermore, “opulent” is an incredibly weird thing for a horse to be.
Oh wow, FactFinder found female misogynists. That would be a surprise, except that David has showcased them before, and also the cursing out they get on the AVFM website.
I guess a horse could be opulent if you dressed it in gold battle armor? Not sure why you’d want to, since gold is rather soft, but in theory.
Is Rush posting on the gleaming opulent horse of superior Aryan intellect in the picture above, and that’s why he’s bouncing?
Fun fact, the drilling into the skull thing actually has medical merit, and it wasn’t done in every random case. There are these things called “brain tumors” that sometimes occur in some humans. There are also other sorts of situations that result in overly high pressure in the skull, one of the symptoms of which is horrible headaches. There are medical cases where draining blood from the brain cavity to reduce pressure is a good medical idea. They even remove large pieces of people’s skulls now in cases of brain swelling as well.
It does if that organization is an insurance company. It’s not as if the insurance companies charge more for a plan that includes birth control coverage, this is the religious organizations entangling themselves with public funds and then trying to use insurance companies to forcibly deny people care.
Medicine is a science, and of course it advances. That doesn’t mean it’s okay to refuse the best available treatment on a whim or because you’re a woman hating douche.
http://www.allabouttbi.com/open-head-injury/
http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/subdural-hematoma/overview.html
This is a perfectly valid treatment. I don’t know why you picked this instead of a treatment that has been disproven. Is it because it sounds dramatic?
Cassandra, you clearly don’t realize how important it is for your horse to look really awesome.
I know I insist on having my pony decked in bling.
That doesn’t mean it’s okay to refuse the best available treatment on a whim or because you’re a woman hating douche.
Oh boy, this “religion is a woman-hating conspiracy” shit again. A bit of me thought that the whole religious leader conspiracy theory was some attempt to bait me. Silly me, even setting the bar low to begin with.
Well, I demand that even my bonbons be blinged out with gold leaf, since I’m a privileged feminist princess and all.
This is a perfectly valid treatment. I don’t know why you picked this instead of a treatment that has been disproven. Is it because it sounds dramatic?
To be honest, most medieval procedures had a bit of truth to them and the basis for more may be found as science advances. That being said, if you think pushing an unsterilized bit of metal into someone’s brain to replace a headache with an open wound more often turns better than worse, be my guest.
Now, if I had mentioned that I would have been henpecked for getting off topic. That being said, replace the head drilling with using beetle paste to remove teeth or something if it makes you feel better.
I’ve actually had chocolate truffles with edible gold leaf on them. It was the ultimate in “wtf, rich people?” since it didn’t taste at all different, it just cost more. Plus, I don’t think even “food-grade” gold is something we should probably ingest.
In any case, I was not on an opulent horse at the time :(.
Plus, I don’t think even “food-grade” gold is something we should probably ingest.
The reverse is always an option.
That may be opulent, but it’s not a horse.
I actually dislike edible gold leaf. It’s a texture issue, since as you said, it doesn’t taste of much.
Much like whatever makes Pop Rocks do that frothy thing and some candy sparkle, I do think that if it isn’t usually a food item then we probably shouldn’t be eating it.
OK, the Aryan-horse remark was just too damn funny: I started a funny troll comments contest on the forums.
@FF, aren’t most of your links supposed to show us the error of our feminist ways? What’s up with the Cracked link? Were you just reminded of it by what I’d said and thought we would be amused or interested? Given your history here, that’s kind of weird, but okay I guess I’ll go with it.
@Cassandra, I think my biggest issue with edible gold leaf is just the pretentiousness. I feel like, if someone is serving me a tasteless precious metal, they’re trying to make some point about how much money they have to waste.
@ Viscaria
I think it’s supposed to make the chocolates pretty? Which doesn’t really work for me, aesthetically speaking, but oh well, if some people want to eat tiny flakes of gold then hey, have at it.
BTW, are other people following FFs links? I’m pretty much working under the assumption that he has nothing worthwhile to say and is just trying to waste people’s time, so why bother?