Undeterred after Virginia's Supreme court struck down his anti sodomy law Ken Cuccinelli is stepping up his gubernatorial campaign with new "family values" plans. While speaking to a donor's meeting "there is genocide being practised in our universities!" He continued "It goes by various euphemisms, but perhaps the most prosaic is 'whackng off' because it tells of the dismissive attitude to the victims. College students are killing billions every night in the the dorm rooms of our state and across America. I propose to put an end to it." This is not just idle rhetoric of a man hoping to been in charge of a Southern state, Cuccinelli has a plan. " I propose that that once I'm elected governor of this great state I will build a task force drawing expertese from S.W.A.T, Specials forces and Navy Seals. They will storm dorm rooms fully equipped with the latest in army surplus equipment."
When a reported asked about the plan "Is this plan just more big government?". Cuccinelli responded "This is genocide in our community it must be stopped the bible says so, if we have to delay our anarchist Utopia, a few months it will be worth it." An MSNBC reporter queried civil liberties aspects of the plan. Cuccenelli's response was dismissive "I'm sick of ACLU types interfering in the implementation of biblical law in this country. My team is gathering a rock pile and we shall be able to address that problem too. Where are also looking for people with good throwing arms."
I've seen mention of the GOP anti Obama congressional strategy, and have blogged about it before. It is staggering for a liberal democracy, often described with terms like unconstitutional, treasonous, and anti-democratic.
Previously I have satirically compared the GOP to the Taliban for its misogynistic anti-choice legislation. In a move that could hardly be expect One GOP representative has compared themselves to the Taliban, I shi*t you not.
Back on January 20, 2009, President Obama was attending his inauguration ceremony, while just kilometres away, in a Washington eatery, 12 leading GOP representatives including Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor and GOP strategy wonk Frank Luntz. In that meeting the question was what to do about the new president. The answer they came upwith was block everything, filibuster like their pension depends on it and obstruct like the sewer was backing up.
According to Pete Sessions (R) the meeting used the Taliban as an example.
Taliban Insurgency, we understand perhaps a little bit more because of the Taliban. Insurgency is the way they went about systematically understanding how to disrupt and change a person's entire processes.
And these Taliban - is an example of how you go about to change a person from their messaging to their operation to their frontline message. And we need to understand that Insurgency may be required when [dealing with] the other side.
So far the insurgency has meant that congress has pass just 2 bills of consequence, the Violence Against Women Act, and Sandy disaster relief but only after great difficulty and failed votes. Other staggeringly pressing bills include the size of steel blanks for commemorative coins and failed attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Congress has not been this ineffective since the 1940s.
The goal of this strategy is to the President look like a "lame duck" president, and if some some of the Sodahead conversations I've had are anything to go by, some are falling for it.
What ever happened to defending the constitution from it enemies foreign and domestic. In minds of the tea party President Blackular is the goosestepping tyrannical enemy. Well, with an extraordinary admission above, when is the Tea party Caucus undergoing extraordinary rendition? Any minute now the IRS will break down there doors and demand they fill forms to show there 501(c)4 charitable groups really are charitable and not just political groups. Oh, wait they asked that of of groups regardless of political affiliation and the only group denied 501(c)4 status was aligned with the Democrats. And no doors were broken.
The GOP strategy is no more sophisticated than a grumpy four year old at preschool who doesn't want to play with the new kid in group. Is it anti democratic, certainly they are usurping the will of the people by the popular vote. Is it treason? Well they have admitted their priority is not the welfare of the American nation.
Why aren't Americans furious? Decades of drama too exhausting perhaps or perhaps many are too poor to be able to afford to express dissent. At least some call it the beauty of neo-liberal economics - bloody nightmare that it is. At least Egypt offers an example.
Morocco, 16 year old, Amina al-Filah, committed suicide, after she was forced to marry her rapist by a Sharia court. Her hushand, then beat her regularly, and she ask her mother for advice and the was told to be patient. With in a week she could suffer the abuse and the prospect of spending the rest of her life with her brutal "husband" no longer and committed suicide on Saturday 11, by drinking a lethal amount of rat poison, . Aminas story has sparked outrage in Morocco with a 200 strong protest outside the Moroccan parliament brandishing placards "Martyr Amina", "We are all Aminas", and "The law killed me". Amina's family agreed to the judgement to have her marry her rapist, because they beleived she had brought shame to their family by losing her virginity. This is not uncommon within the Muslim community.Lahcen al-Filali, Amina's father, was reluctant to permit this marriage, his wife insisted that it should be allowed, Lahcen told AFP, at the Thursday protest, "She said we had to do it so people would stop deriding us, to remove the shame, Can you imagine that a man who has forced a girl to follow him with a knife, and who rapes her, could then want to marry her?"
Democratic Association of Women member, Houda Bouzil, also told AFP "In 2008, the government introduced a bill, which has since been shelved,
to demand an overhaul of the penal code in order to end discrimination
and violence."Tunisia and Algeria have similar legislation
The story has exploded on the internet and media and on-line petitions to repeal the law.
Moroccan statute, punishes rape with 10 years, or 10-20 years in prison if the victim is under 18, and a fine of 200-500 dirhams (18-45 euros) unless he marries the victim. The marriage can never be reverse.
On Thurday an additional protest of 300 occured outside the court that mad the judgement that forced Amina to marry her rapist.
Editorial
Is the fox guarding the hen house? It is worth noting that Morocco as country is not that backward.
We must give credit to her father for understanding how wrong the arrangement was, however then blows it by not protecting his daughter. For good people to bad things you need religion. This has been a tragic experience for all concerned. If Amina's story has a value, it is in highlighting the sanity in the practise of Sharia. Moroccans are no longer desert tribe-people, those ancient customary laws are no longer befitting in the modern world.
I get the sense that derision levelled at the family of a rape victim is little more than bully and a perversion of the the course of justice in order that the rapist may escape the just consequences of their actions.
