Republican lawmaker in Missouri is pushing a bill that would require women to get the father's consent before getting an abortion.

Courtesy of Mother Jones: 

A Missouri Republican is pushing a bill that would allow a man who gets a woman pregnant to stop her from having an abortion. The measure would force a woman who wants an abortion to obtain written permission from the father first—unless she was the victim of "legitimate rape." 

Rick Brattin, a state representative from outside Kansas City, filed the bill on December 3 for next year's legislative session. The proposed measure reads, "No abortion shall be performed or induced unless and until the father of the unborn child provides written, notarized consent to the abortion."

Jesus, are they talking about "legitimate rape" again?

Rape is rape asshole!

And they say there is no conservative war on women.

Ann Coulter says that women claiming to have been raped are just looking for attention.

Ann Coulter showing off her Adam's apple.

Courtesy of Right Wing Watch: 

Ann Coulter appeared on “The Lars Larson Show” last week to discuss the discrepancies in Rolling Stone’s article on an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia, which Coulter called a “shocking fraud” that proves that “there is no rape crisis” on college campuses. 

Coulter also suggested that rapes only occur in physically violent circumstances, like “being hit on the head with a brick,” and anyone who says otherwise is just trying to get attention. 

“People know what a rape is, and to have girls trying to get attention from Lena Dunham to this poor psychotic at UVA, Lady Gaga claiming she was raped but she didn’t admit it to herself for five years. What major crime do people say, ‘I didn’t admit it to myself’?” she demanded.

The conservative commentator told Larson that growing concerns about how colleges are handling sexual assault incidents are “based on nothing” when there are only a “very few percentage of actual rapists” on campuses and those “are usually Clintons or Kennedys.” 

You know it's one thing for Ann Coulter to say such vile things because clearly she used to be a man, but the fact is that many other female conservatives are  nodding right along with her.

I have no idea how this became a partisan issue, since I have never heard of a rapist checking a victim's voter ID card, however it has become exactly that.

In the interview Coulter also claims not to know ANY victims of rape personally. A claim that I find almost impossible to fathom, as I can think of more than half a dozen friends of mine that were the victims of rape and I'm just a guy.

What a vile human being.

What everybody is talking about, the Newsroom's college rape storyline.

Courtesy of The Independent: 

The Newsroom has been accused of having a “women problem” before, but now Aaron Sorkin has come under fire for a rape storyline that implies male perpetrators are to be believed over female victims. 

The latest episode has been criticised for its portrayal of female rape victims after TV news producer Don Keefer said he felt morally obligated to believe the man’s side of the story because he had not yet been convicted of rape. 

The episode’ storyline followed a Princeton student who starts a website allowing women on campus to out their rapists after the city justice system failed to prosecute two fraternity members who she claimed raped her. 

The student is tracked down by the fictional news network ACN for a debate with her alleged attacker live on air. Don had also interviewed the man she claims raped her and when she asks him who he believes, the producer says he felt obliged to take the man’s side over hers.

This received quite a lot of backlash from all corners.

Including from a writer on the show who claims her misgivings about the segment were ignored, and that she was "kicked out" of the writer's room.

Sorkin himself responds here.

Actress Olivia Munn, who plays the character Sloan Sabbith on the show, also weighed in:  

“…The reality is that Sorkin writes things so that they can be talked about, and so we show both sides of it,” she said. “I think it was important to show what it’s like for women to be a rape victim, want to speak out, and then have somebody come in and say, ‘Hey don’t do that. That’s going to be bad for you.’ 

“Sorkin wasn’t saying ‘Don’t do that,'” Munn said. “He was saying ‘This is what happens.'” 

Personally I liked the episode. Partly because it left me conflicted, and not sure whose side I should take in the exchange between the Don Keefer character and the college student.

But that to me is the mark of great television.

I don't often watch shows that make me feel all warm and cuddly inside. I watch shows that make me think, piss me off, or make me grieve for the loss of a character that I have, against my better judgement, grown attached to. (Still miss you Beth.)

I think the show did everything that I would expect it would do with such a controversial subject.

And in the light of the Rolling Stone campus rape scandal, it could not have been more timely.

Alaska National Guard scandal breaks nationally. About damn time!

Image courtesy of the Anchorage Press

So late yesterday I started to receive links from all of you to stories about the AK National Guard scandals.

I have no idea if this is the result of my request for all of you to spread it far and wide or not, and it really doesn't matter. All that matters is that now it is starting to get coverage in news outlets NOT centered inside of Alaska. And that is very good news indeed.

First there is one of my favorite news outlets Raw Story:  

A top commander for the Alaska National Guard was recommended for “other than honorable” discharge earlier this year following an investigation that found he allowed recruiters to sexually assault and harass women. 

Lt. Col. Joseph Lawendowski failed to act on multiple complaints of serious misconduct, including rape, against four noncommissioned officers under his command, according to an Army investigation.

The article links directly to the Anchorage Press, who I absolutely believe should be getting the lion's share of the credit for their incredible coverage of this scandal.

Next up there is RT.com:

 Several leaked documents show that the Alaska National Guard's leadership supported a culture of sexual assault, theft and smuggling. The released reports coincide with the state's contentious gubernatorial election. 

The May 3 Army Regulation 15-6 (AR) report obtained by The Anchorage Press alleges that Lt. Col. Joseph Lawendowski, who joined the Alaska National Guard (ANG) in 2003, promoted steroid use by recruiters, used government vehicles for strip club outings, and possibly used government-issued credit cards for improper purchases when he led the command from 2008-2009. He also created a workplace environment where three male officers – Jarret Carson, John Nieves and Shannon Tallent – repeatedly violated regulations by having consensual sex with women while working.

Once again, as you can see, the Anchorage Press is credited with much of the reporting.

And finally we have Wonkette:  

Wonkette would like to give a hearty welcome to Lt. Col. Joseph R. Lawendowski, our daily (hourly?) “He seems nice” contestant. 

Lt. Col. Lawendowski is a rough tough military man and the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Training of the Alaska National Guard. Please note the use of present tense there, which is rather surprising, given that military investigators submitted a confidential report (an “AR 15-6” in military terms, not to be mistaken for the similarly named semiautomatic rifle) back in March and leaked to the Anchorage Press. 

The Press says Lawendowski was found “directly responsible for empowering Alaska guard recruiters to sexually assault and harass female soldiers, recruits and civilians.” The report recommended that he be given an “other than honorable” discharge for his role in allowing some seriously bizarre misbehavior by recruiters when he served as commander of the Alaska Army National Guard Recruiting and Retention Battalion (RRB) from November 2007 to May 2012. Also, too, the growing scandal could very well spill over into the 2014 Alaska governor’s race, since there are questions about Gov. Sean Parnell’s knowledge of the mess — the usual what did he know and when did he know it stuff. 

Gotta love Wonkette!

You probably could not help but notice that, while also giving credit to the Anchorage Press, Wonkette drew a line right back to Governor Parnell as well.

The other articles made that connection too, as of course they all should.

I actually watched quite a bit of cable news yesterday hoping this would get some coverage but so far I have not seen any.

We NEED to help make this a story that simply cannot be ignored.

I think once they get their hands on it, the national media will have a hard time letting it go.

And that is not only good for Alaskans, but that is good for everybody.