Naomi Wolf’s Feminism: Burqas Are Beautiful!

Naomi Wolf defended the Muslim veil. This is something I wrote about a couple weeks ago amidst some controversy because I feel that the face covering specifically is wrong for the reasons Phylllis Chesler mentions here:

I know that writers don’t often choose the titles of their articles but your article led your editor to title the piece: “Behind the Veil Lives a Thriving Muslim Sexuality.” I do not want to repeat what I’ve already written but your article asks whether “we in the West (are not) radically misinterpreting Muslim sexual mores?” And, you write that the “Western interpretation of veiling as repression of women and of their sexuality….is not so, (but is rather) rooted in a strong sense of public versus private…what is due to God and what is due to one’s husband.”

This does not sound like a feminist indictment of female genital mutilation, forced veiling, forced illiteracy, forced arranged child marriage, polygamy, normalized daughter- and wife-beating, honor killings, or the torture and murder of so many people, both women and men, in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sudan, Somalia and Algeria, by Islamists paramilitary forces and by the Islamic government.

You ask that I publish your piece. Indeed, I have already “published” your piece by linking to it in my blog. It is embedded in the piece. Check it out for yourself.

Naomi: Both your generation and my much earlier generation of feminists have failed a universal vision of women’s human rights; most have become multi-cultural relativists and politically correct leftists. Such feminists have been more concerned with the rights of formerly colonized Muslim men than with the rights of formerly colonized and still colonized Muslim women. And, they view America and often Israel as the Evil Empires par excellence and give a free pass to Muslim tyranny.

I have stood almost alone and have been condemned by many for telling the truth about Islamic gender and religious apartheid, and about Israel, anti-Semitism, jihad, and America.

Post-modern feminists are loath to condemn real injustices towards Muslim women. They prefer whitewashing with pap like this from Wolf:

“Many Muslim women I spoke with did not feel at all subjugated by the chador or the headscarf. On the contrary, they felt liberated from what they experienced as the intrusive, commodifying, basely sexualizing Western gaze. … Many women said something like this: …’how tiring it can be to be on display all the time. When I wear my headscarf or chador, people relate to me as an individual, not an object; I feel respected.’ This may not be expressed in a traditional Western feminist set of images, but it is a recognizably Western feminist set of feelings.”

Here’s what I wrote August 19:

It would make sense that Feminists would oppose burqas because they are a tool of oppression for women: that is, burqas are specifically made to make a woman persona non grata. A burqa’s very purpose is to hide the woman and make her invisible as an individual. She is just not there.

But feminists, and liberals in general support the burqa. The woman has a “right to choose”.

But Phyllis points out that is nonsense:

Most Muslim girls and women are not given a choice about wearing the chador, burqa, abaya, niqab, jilbab, or hijab (headscarf), and those who resist are beaten, threatened with death, arrested, caned or lashed, jailed, or honor murdered by their own families. Is Wolfe thoroughly unfamiliar with the news coming out of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan on these very subjects? Has she forgotten the tragic, fiery deaths of those schoolgirls in Saudi Arabia who, in trying to flee their burning schoolhouse, were improperly veiled and who were beaten back by the all-powerful Saudi Morality Police?

And this reality is what feminists don’t want to see. They wish to excuse sexist, abusive, raping, and murderous behavior inherent in much of Islamic practice because to be against it would be a tacit approval of Western standards and that simply would not do. It would require a moral choice that would undermine their own criticism of their own patriarchal culture that has long since ceased to be abusive to women. Again, Phyllis says:

Wolf presents the West as anti-woman because it treats women as sex objects. Am I happy about pornography and prostitution in the West? Hell no and, unlike Wolf, I’ve fought against them–but to portray these vices as a “Western” evil, and one that the Islamic world opposes, is sheer madness.

It is well known that the Arabs and Muslims kept and still keep sex slaves–they are very involved in the global trafficking in girls and women and frequent prostitutes on every continent. You will find pornography magazines in every princely tent–those for boys as well as for girls. I am told that the Saudis fly in fresh planeloads of Parisian prostitutes every week. Perhaps they veil them before they conduct their all-night and all-day orgies. Or, perhaps they view them as natural, “infidel” prey.

Naomi Wolf and her American feminist ilk are spoiled rotten grown women who seem to have lost the ability to spot true oppression when it’s right in front of their faces. The burqa has been effective on them, too, evidently. They don’t see the individual under the cover, either. They see their own desires to be judged purely by their brains and accomplishments and long for a way to have their physical imperfections hidden. They see a burqa as a useful feminist tool to achieve that end. What they don’t see is that by being visually invisible, burqa clad women become literally invisible in society, as a cohesive force, as women.

The Feminist’s own callous disregard for the covered and abused women as individuals demonstrates why burqas are an abomination. Perhaps if they saw the bruised, beaten, bleeding, burnt bodies of these women, the torment of women suffering under radical Islam, under the burqa, would be real to them.

Posted in Corrupted Culture, Isms, Not America | 1 Comment »

Pew: Good Grief! 37% Actually Approve Of Congress?

The latest Pew research came out today. Democrats should be gnashing their teeth. I’m shocked that the approval of Nancy’s House is as high as it is, but then, again, someone has to consistently vote Democrat. Looks like there ain’t nothing a Dem can do to tick off at least 1/3 of the electorate.

On a more depressing note for Democrats, there’s this:

Independents’ views of Congress shifted more dramatically in recent months than have opinions among Republicans or Democrats. Notably, independent voters who express an unfavorable view of Congress, say they would back the GOP candidate over the Democrat by a whopping 51% to 31% margin, while the smaller proportion of independent voters who have a positive view of Congress say they intend to vote for the Democrat, by 55% to 29%.

You know what this poll tells me? That the notion of an Independent voter is a myth. In the last election, irritated people who normally vote Republican voted for Barack Obama and Democrats generally because they 1) wanted to punish Republicans and 2) actually hoped Obama would bring fiscal restraint and change. Of course, that didn’t happen and these people are swinging back to home.

The minority of Independents who approve of the Democrats are closet Democrats. There are those who like to call themselves Independents because it sounds superior to say so.

Either a person is a statist or an individualist. That is, he either wants the government to step in and fix things or he wants to be left alone to figure it out. Most people of voting age are pretty clear which way they want things to go. They are either a Democrat or a Republican until they change their philosophy.

Of course, the problem for those voting Republican has been that elected Republicans have acted like statists. They have no where to turn.

Posted in Political Animals | No Comments »

Van Jones: “Republicans Are A**holes”

Van Jones plans on getting “uppity”, according to The Hill:

Jones, however, continued his casual rant. “And Barack Obama is not an a**hole. Now, I will say this: I can be an a**hole, and some of us who are not Barack Hussein Obama, are going to have to start getting a little bit uppity [to get things done].”

President Obama and his minions sure have elevated the tone in Washington. Gateway Pundit has the video. Jim says:

So, what are they talking about anyway?
Barack Obama and the Pelosi-Reid Congress have rammed through every piece of far left legislation they wanted to without a single GOP vote or input.

And, since when was the socialist Barack “I Won” Obama bipartisan?

Democrats don’t need to be bipartisan. Democrats don’t want to be bipartisan. They’re just plain partisan.

Posted in Political Animals | No Comments »

Levi Johnson Living The American Dream: Sleeping His Way To Fame

As a way into liberal prominence goes, nothing quite beats screwing literally, or metaphorically, a conservative to achieve fame. Levi Johnson has done both. He is, literally, a fame whore.

Vanity Fair will be giving him valuable pages in the next edition. I have not given him any space because he is a complete knob.

However, because he now has been given the national stage, his statements from the national stage need to be examined. I am not going to do it, but I suggest you go over to Conservatives4Palin.com to see Levi’s lies debunked. Here’s one such debunking:

For example, here’s some of the things Levi was saying about the Palins earlier this year:

“They’re good people,” he said. “They don’t push me, you know. They kind of — they don’t really tell us what to do, they don’t tell us, you know, they’re good people. So I like ‘em.”

And:

“They always treated me like a son. I mean they were — they were real nice to me. And I thought of her as like my second mother. You know, Todd was always, you know, a great guy and helped me out with a lot of things. So I mean they welcomed me.”

Quite a difference from what he’s saying now. After Rex and Tank convinced Levi that the truth doesn’t sell, they’ve resorted to complete fabrications intending to create scandals that they can profit from. The more outrageous the stories they come up with are, the more publicity opportunities they all get. In the latest example, they’ve concocted a story that is so laughable, it’s difficult to imagine anyone reading it can keep a straight face:

” Sarah told me she had a great idea: we would keep it a secret—nobody would know that Bristol was pregnant. She told me that once Bristol had the baby she and Todd would adopt him. That way, she said, Bristol and I didn’t have to worry about anything. Sarah kept mentioning this plan. She was nagging—she wouldn’t give up. She would say, “So, are you gonna let me adopt him?” We both kept telling her we were definitely not going to let her adopt the baby. I think Sarah wanted to make Bristol look good, and she didn’t want people to know that her 17-year-old daughter was going to have a kid.”

Go read the whole thing. At first, I kinda felt sorry for this kid being dragged into the limelight. Now, it’s patently obvious that he knows that making money will only come by milking his five minutes of fame. As long as he provides Palin-damaging fodder for the press, he’ll have a platform.

Levi Johnson should just go away, but he won’t. He has too much to gain by staying in the spotlight. But more than that, the press so hates Sarah Palin that they’ll use this boy up in service to their political desires.

Sarah Palin remains the biggest threat to liberals which is why guys like Levi Johnson remain in the press.

Posted in Political Animals | 3 Comments »

About Obama’s September 8th Ground Breaking Speech….To The Children

Some thoughts on President Obama’s teachable moment [more at Bookworm and Michelle Malkin]:

The best predictor of human behavior is past behavior.

Obama will be:

1. Glib
2. Boring
3. Professorish

He will say:

4. One or two outrageous things
5. Mixed in with bland banalities

Teachers will dutifully talk about the glories of diversity. The wonderfulness of the president. The hopefulness of his plans.

Children will want to “help the President” and be “good stewards” and “save electricity” and “save the children” and “study hard”. Well, the last one not-so-much.

The message won’t matter. The fact that the President is speaking to them, unfiltered, with no parent is what I object to.

And I live in the most conservative of conservative school districts. Many teachers don’t even know when they are passing bullshit pap along.

My kids came home from school worried about global warming and the world ending.

Our mind numb society didn’t happen in a vacuum.

Anyway, not everyone agrees with my take–they want to give the President the benefit of the doubt. But I can only predict his future actions on past performances. He has done very well at gracefully talking around a controversial subject and making all who hear it believe he’s agreeing with their take.

Children want to believe authorities. They DO believe authorities. Depending on the child’s developmental level, he cannot discern that a President would mislead. Heck, many adults have been baffled by Obama’s b.s. They are shocked, shocked! I tell you, at how President Obama has presided.

But let’s assume the substance is benign. I still don’t like it. The President being beamed directly to children is unprecedented. It has never happened and for good reason. The authority in a child’s life is his parent. A teacher has a teaching role but it is subservient to the parent.

When I think of leaders going around parents to talk to children, I think of Elian Gonzalez. Over at TheRealCuba blog here’s what it says:

Poor Elian!

For the last six years, after he was forced to return to Cuba to become another slave, Elian Gonzalez had to celebrate his birthday with his real father, Fidel Castro. But now, the Cuban dictator is half dead and unable to attend his young slave’s birthday party.
However, that doesn’t mean that Elian would be able to celebrate his birthday as a normal child. Not in Castro’s Cuba!

Elian, who today became a teenager, still had to “celebrate” his birthday party in the presence of two “viejos cagalitrosos,” the new dictator-in-chief and Ricardo “Watermellon Head” Alarcon.
Can you imagine? A teenager having to salute these two sinister characters on his birthday, after having been forced to do the same with Cuba’s mass murderer for the last six years?
Poor Elian! I wonder if Janet Reno remembered to send him a birthday card.

I don’t want an entire generation of Americans getting a universal message from ANY leader or politician. I want a generation of children to be inspired by big dreams–like going to the moon or exploring Mars. A free country can do big things. A free country, lead by a visionary, can demonstrate greatness. The leader doesn’t have to use empty words.

Let President Obama’s personal example of education, hard work and achievement speak for themselves. It is enough…and it’s very American.

Posted in America, Corrupted Culture, Mind, Political Animals | 12 Comments »

Why Preventative Care Won’t Save Money

My practice consists of people who want to stay healthy and those recovering from some malady–often of the structural kind, but sometimes of the sub-clinical but bothersome kind. That means, people coming to my office hope to get back to doing what they want or make it so they’re always healthy.

These people are highly motivated. Since my practice is 90% cash, the patients seek out my services, value them so highly that they’ll pay money for them, and they will often be compliant. We have tough talks in my office. I have had this conversation many times:

Me: Here is what we need to do, but it will require a change of behavior on your part, a whole new lifestyle.

Patient: Okay…..

Me: If you are not interested in making these changes, you will not get the health benefits you desire. I do not want to waste your money and my time if you’re not ready for these changes.

Patient: Okay….

Me: How do you feel about (significant change in diet, new exercise regimen, changing sleep habits, changing exercise, at home rehab options, etc.)?

Patient: Well, I…..

And then, the patient thinks about it and decides. Even with paying for care and being self-selected to come into my office, only about 50% are willing to do the changes they need. Some don’t come back until they are ready. Some decide on symptomatic care and admit they don’t really want to change. I had one patient tell me, “I’d rather die than stop drinking Coke.” He was an alcoholic and diabetic. That’s good information to have–I can give him nutrition to supplement his horrendous lifestyle choices, but just the preventative care alone is not going to significantly help him if he won’t help himself. He will be in the hospital, eventually, and have a limb amputated or go into a diabetic coma. Those will be huge expenses.

So, while my practice centers on people taking control of their health and it’s profoundly satisfying because people are self-motivated, this is not the majority of American health care consumers. From the Washington Post:

Using data from long-standing clinical trials, researchers projected the cost of caring for people with Type 2 diabetes as they progress from diagnosis to various complications and death. Enrolling federally-insured patients in a simple but aggressive program to control the disease would cost the government $1,024 per person per year — money that largely would be recovered after 25 years through lower spending on dialysis, kidney transplants, amputations and other forms of treatment, the study found.

However, except for the youngest diabetics, the additional services would add to overall health spending, not decrease it, the study shows.

As an aside, I strongly question the $1,000 price tag for diabetes education and prevention. That seems awfully low. Since one doctor’s office visit alone is around $100, I wonder what else is being covered here. Are meds included? Counseling? What?

Most people, if given a choice, will go to the doctor and want to be “fixed”. That is, they’ll want a drug or surgery that enables them to continue on their path without having to change their behavior. Should socialized medicine come to America, that impulse will be reinforced. Health care costs will soar.

Preventative care only works when a patient is motivated, and even then, it’s challenging. Those under Government Run health care will have less incentive, not more, to take control of their health care.

Do I think that preventative care saves money for my patients? Absolutely. A healthy person over his lifetime, will likely need less health care intervention. Since nearly 90% of chronic disease is preventable, steps to prevent them make a huge difference. A person who never develops heart disease or diabetes or employs dietary ways to prevent cancers makes for a very nice health care cost risk long-term.

In my own life, the life insurance guy was shocked: I have low blood pressure, low cholesterol, I’m on no meds, I’ve had no surgeries. And, yes, I’m overweight, but that doesn’t mean, necessarily, unhealthy. My own grandma who is 92, has spent a lifetime of living preventatively. She is the picture of health–mentally and physically. Prevention does matter. But the individual must be motivated and must take the steps himself to be healthy.

No government can force an individual to have motivation. But they can force behavior…and that’s what they’ll try to do, eventually. In that case, the cure is worse than the disease.

Posted in America, Body, Corrupted Culture, Mind | 2 Comments »

2% Too Much: Federal Employees Should Get Pay Cuts, Not Pay Raises

Federal government employees make nearly 100% more, on average, per year, than the average American worker. With the deficit soaring, Nancy Pelosi suggested a 19% pay increase. President Obama is getting props for saying it should be 2%.

Pardon me, but what the hell?

Private sector employees are either taking a cut in hours, are laid off or have pay freezes–because that’s what people do to stay competitive in a down economy.

But with the American taxpayer ponying up for Federal employees wages, the sky is the limit. What a disgusting system.

Posted in America, Corrupted Culture, Political Animals, Show Me The Money | 5 Comments »

News Fifty: A Drudge For Every State?

You know when you stumble across an idea online and wonder: Why hasn’t this been done before? That’s News Fifty. News Fifty is a state-by-state news aggregator. For all you news junkies, I think it’s going to be a must-stop every morning. I just wanted to let you guys know about it.

Here’s the blurb:

NewsFifty.com has one national homepage that features important headlines
and breaking news from across the country. Through an interactive map,
visitors can quickly and easily access 50 separate state pages dedicated
to all the headlines from each state. In addition, the most popular
newspapers, magazines, blogs, television and radio stations are listed on
each state’s page.

“We have developed a site that caters to the online news consumer. To the
average person that gets their news online, we want www.NewsFifty.com to
be a part of their daily routine,” says Vidrine.

No, I’m not getting paid. No, I have no vested interest. I just like good ideas and when they come along, I think “hey, why didn’t I think of that?” This is one of those ideas. It will take a lot of work out of searching for news.

P.S. Oh! They don’t just have headlines. They have blog rolls from every state and nationwide, too.

Posted in Nerd Stuff, Political Animals | 2 Comments »

Afghanistan, Arrogant Independents, Alcohol Taxes and Alpha Males

Steve Schippert of Threats Watch joined me for a furious segment about American policy in Afghanistan. Also, is President Obama a foreign policy genius? General Jim Jones thinks so. Steve has a quibble with that take. This is a must-listen to take on America’s place in the world.

It’s super popular these days to call oneself a political Independent. I call bull sh*t. Here’s a bit from my American Issues Project column on the subject:

Where Barlett differs from Beck is action. Where Glenn Beck encourages Americans to get involved, and he himself has supported Tea Parties, traveled the country and done his own forms of protesting and paid for it, Barlett sits in his easy chair playing Monday Morning Quarterback to….everybody.

That’s the new cool: hating everyone.

I, myself, have written about the pathetic political class. It’s patently obvious that D.C. is insular, out-of-touch and entitled. They feel more like lording over than representing. The power equation is reversed. However, I’ve also attended, reported from and painted signs for Tea Parties. In addition, there is no question in my mind that the road to salvation for America won’t be through a third party–a political porn fantasy for many Ron Paulian Republicans and other independents. The solution is to change the Republican party. The only way to do that is to change it from within by action.

Also, today in Illinois, alcohol taxes increase by 90%. Hmmmm…. I wonder what those fine citizens will do.

Finally, are Alpha Males a beast that’s nearly extinct? Maybe. That doesn’t seem like a good thing. More on that later, but it’s talked about in the podcast.

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When Melissa isn’t on the radio, you can find her at melissaclouthier.com and on Twitter. Her username is MelissaTweets.

Posted in Corrupted Culture, Entertain Me, Not America, Political Animals | No Comments »