June 24, 2002
John Ashcroft is the singlemost stupid public official of all time. I'm sure of it.
Originally, when George Bush was campaigning, I thought he was pretty stupid, too. I am still not sure that I have actually wavered from that belief. I am sure it's anti-American to say so, but I still think he's a goon.
At first, after the wake of the WTC and Pentagon bombings, I thought, he looked good and presidential stepping up to the War on Terrorism. And while he predicted it would go on and on and instructed us to hang in there, I find I am wondering what I am hanging in there for.
The problem I have with the Bush Administration's War on Terrorism, is that not only do they seem to propagate the scariest of possibilities often without need, but they have never outlined what the end of the War on Terrorism would look like. I am willing to hang in there, if I have some idea of how it will look when we've won or even when we've lost.
Frankly, I found that my greatest fear in the Bush Administration's ability to run the Whitehouse was my fear about what kind of people would be appointed to various positions. I knew there'd be some of that religious right tossed in there. I knew that women's rights would take a big hit, despite Bush's protestations otherwise. I knew we were looking at some potentially scary changes in the Supreme Court.
And then he appointed John Ashcroft to the U.S. Attorney General's position. When I heard "son of a preacher" I groaned and rolled my eyes. More recently, I've done more of that, too. He didn't want to be seen upon the bosom of Lady Justice, so he gave her a drop cloth. I realize he didn't spend a lot of money, but the fact that he spent any money on it, is ridiculous. He could be better explaining the screwups of the FBI with regards to predicting or protecting against 9-11, but instead his office spent time on covering Lady Justice's tits.
What kind of idiot worries about shit like that? What kind of mammary moron obsesses about Ma Justice's bodacious ta-tas?
Well, frankly, the kind of moron who also thinks that global women's rights are a threat; these rights include : the opportunity to run for political office, to receive an education, to choose one's own spouse, and to hold a job.
Egads, no, we wouldn't want to employ women or educate them. Barefoot and pregnant, that's how men want their sperm receptacles, in John Ashcroft's world. Despite the fact, that honorable decent guys like Jimmy Carter and Colin Powell support this treaty, John Ashcroft is doing what he can to get make sure that the Bush administration drags its feet about agreeing that women world-wide should enjoy the "barest" of human rights.
In Pakistan, a country whose help we've recruited for our War on Terrorism, while not alone in its less than equitable treatment of women, recently played home to a horrific event. According to Nicholas Kristof of the NY Times, the mistreatment of women is a fairly normal part of their lives in many third world countries. He relates:
"Mrs. Noor, a pretty woman with soft eyes and a gold nose ring, grew up in the Pakistani countryside, and like her three sisters she never received a day's education. At the age of 15 she was married off by her parents, becoming the second wife of the imam of a local mosque. He beat her relentlessly.
'He would grab my hair, throw me on the floor and beat me with sticks,' she recalled. Finally she ran away.
Her husband found her, tied her to the bed, wired a metal rod to a 220-volt electrical outlet and forced it into her vagina. Surgeons managed to save her life, but horrific internal burns forced them to remove her bladder, urethra, vagina and rectum. Her doctor says she will have to carry external colostomy and urine bags for the rest of her life.
At least she survived. Each year about one million girls in the third world die because of mistreatment and discrimination."
As an American woman, I do enjoy the rights outlined in that treaty. Amazingly enough, I think all women SHOULD enjoy those basic human rights. Signing this treaty may only be a symbolic swipe of the pen, in that a good chunk of this isn't necessarily enforceable. However, in a period of time in American history swept with iconic patriotism, where pictures of the flag superimposed on the head of a bald eagle are commonplace and anyone without a flag on their house is probably a foreign exchange student, I find it impossible to believe that our country thinks so little of women. As we found out the conditions of many of the women of Afghanistan -- no education, healthcare, or rights, we were all outraged and indignant.
Afghanistan forced women to be completely veiled from head to foot, which I understand is part of their dominant religion. However, I live in a Christian country and I am embarrassed not for the naked breast of Lady Justice, but for America for having an Attorney General who has the audacity to veil a good woman, while not taking the time to veil his obvious aversion to the rights of women world-wide.
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