Fuck the Republican Party.

[MissingPerson]

"One of the sheeple", Tomaz. You have to say "sheeple".

[amyzzz]

Is anything "off the record" anymore?

[MissingPerson]

Seriously, it boggles my mind that people still think that's a thing.

[gaypalmsprings]

RUSH LIMBAUGH: The New York Daily News and a lot of the New York media and some of the television networks — New York Daily News reporting that the Empire State Building shooter — you heard about this? OK. New York Daily News reporting the Empire State Building shooter did indeed kill his boss. Well, he was fired yesterday. He went out there and he killed his boss. I wonder if Obama’s constant warfare on bosses and so forth might have led this guy to pull the trigger.

[obzen]

I'm sure Rush wonders about these things all the time, while he's taking a shit.

[SoulDischarge]

By which you mean talking LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLLLLLLLLllllzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz z.

[TomAz]

Hi Patrick I'm drinking too!

[rage patton]

RUSH LIMBAUGH: The New York Daily News and a lot of the New York media and some of the television networks — New York Daily News reporting that the Empire State Building shooter — you heard about this? OK. New York Daily News reporting the Empire State Building shooter did indeed kill his boss. Well, he was fired yesterday. He went out there and he killed his boss. I wonder if Obama’s constant warfare on bosses and so forth might have led this guy to pull the trigger.

[java-do]

Too bad the nine bystanders were shot be NYPD bullets.

[gaypalmsprings]

[chairmenmeow47]

can someone please enlighten me on this meme that says paul ryan supports visitation rights for rapists?

[faxman75]

The 31 states part came from a CNN report by Shauna Prewitt.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/22/opinio...ss_igoogle_cnn

It would not be long before I would learn firsthand that in the vast majority of states -- 31 -- men who father through rape are able to assert the same custody and visitation rights to their children that other fathers enjoy. When no law prohibits a rapist from exercising these rights, a woman may feel forced to bargain away her legal rights to a criminal trial in exchange for the rapist dropping the bid to have access to her child.

[chairmenmeow47]

thanks fax. i've fortunately never had to think about this possibility.

i'm still curious though, does that specifically happen to do with paul ryan?

[MissingPerson]

Yeah, the association seems pretty sketchy beyond his no abortion/no exception stance...

[TomAz]

Opposing abortion in all cases is a differnt thing from granting rapists parental rights.

I think Paul Ryan is a dickwad, but that is some twisted propaganda right there.

1. Stating that "31 states give visitations rights to rapists" is a serious distortion. First, it implies the states have made a proactive choice to grant these rights; the reality is that 31 states have not passed laws that explicity remove parental rights from rapists. Possibly because no one so far had thought it an issue? Second, visitation rights are granted on a case-by-case basis on a determination made weighing all the facts; a conviction for rape would almost certainly cause the judge or case worker to deny visitation.

2. I can't find anything on the internet that ties Paul Ryan to this.

The shame of this is that there plenty of factual reasons to dislike Ryan; making shit up just makes all opposition look phony.

[MissingPerson]

I agree with all of the rest of your post, but as a point of information on #1 - that actually can be a pretty complex issue because the rape trial can still be ongoing by the time the attacker presses for custody. So the rapist hasn't been convicted yet, but the victim still has to go to court against the "dad" so that their child won't have to hang with a sex offender for the next 18 years.

http://jezebel.com/5937170/when-rapi...everyone-loses

Prewitt hadn't ever considered that her attacker would seek joint custody of a child that had been conceived as the result of his violent crime. Unfortunately, it does happen because, according to Prewitt, "courts don't feel they have the power to terminate. They're left to delicately balance this presumption that both parents should be part of a child's life." Even if one of those parents raped the other, because that's how deeply ingrained the idea of a nuclear family is in this America's psyche. Rapists also have used the threat of joint custody as a kind of blackmail to avoid criminal charges.

Explains Prewitt "We see a lot of cases where fathers through rape have sought custody rights, but I don't know that they want to have a sincere involvement in the child's life. They will say, if you don't pursue criminal charges, I won't seek custody."

How you could totally avoid that without compromising the process of fair trial, I'm not really sure, and WTF any of that has to do with Paul Ryan is beyond me, other than the fact that his policy would force a lot more people to have to deal with that eventuality. It is super shitty to circulate misinformation like that, even in the context of an undeniable shithead.

[the walrus]

hmmmm to write in ron paul orrr vote for gary johnson

[TomAz]

the rape trial can still be ongoing

Yeah I get this and it does muddy the waters. I wrote 'convicted of rape' to focus on my point recognizing that the reality is much messier. The problem is I don't know how you reconcile the reality with the "innocent until proven guilty" principal that is at the core of the American judicial system.

[Miroir Noir]

There's a Politico article today about an interview they did with Romney this weekend. I loved this little bit:

His Cabinet would be dominated by people from the private sector, citing Meg Whitman of Hewlett-Packard as a model for female leaders he would like to surround himself with.
Debra L. Lee, the CEO of Black Entertainment Television, is also a leader he would take a close look at, though he couldn’t recall her name, just her title: “From all reports, a highly effective manager.”

[TomAz]

you know, that black chick.

[mountmccabe]

Yeah I get this and it does muddy the waters. I wrote 'convicted of rape' to focus on my point recognizing that the reality is much messier. The problem is I don't know how you reconcile the reality with the "innocent until proven guilty" principal that is at the core of the American judicial system.

Those charged with crimes can be held in jail until trial, sometimes even without the option of paying bail depending on how much of a danger they pose to the community. That is to say if someone is charged with rape they can potentially be held without bail through the trial even though they are still "innocent until proven guilty."

I think denying custody/etc pending the results of the criminal trial is consistent with that.

[TomAz]

But John that would just give women even MORE incentive to press false rape charges against innocent men. Brian Banks knows what I'm talking about.

[mountmccabe]

But as you said

visitation rights are granted on a case-by-case basis on a determination made weighing all the facts; a conviction for rape would almost certainly cause the judge or case worker to deny visitation.

And if we're going to assume a conviction pushes things one way, it would make sense that a not guilty verdict would push things the other way. "The mother falsely accused me in order to deny me visitation rights, that suggests she's going to be trouble and not co-operate; I should be granted custody" etc.

[PotVsKtl]

There's a Politico article today about an interview they did with Romney this weekend. I loved this little bit:

Here's my favorite:

He got every piece of legislation he wanted passed, and it didn’t work.

Oh Mitt.

[guedita]

Rape! It's a method of conception!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-s...comm_ref=false

[PotVsKtl]

That's true, it is. High fives.

[guedita]

That's all it is.

[amyzzz]

We gotta populate America somehow.

[Miroir Noir]

Another Republican Senate candidate weighs in on abortion and rape:

Mark Scolforo, Associated Press: How would you tell a daughter or a granddaughter who, God forbid, would be the victim of a rape, to keep the child against her own will? Do you have a way to explain that?
Tom Smith: I lived something similar to that with my own family. She chose life, and I commend her for that. She knew my views. But, fortunately for me, I didn’t have to.. she chose they way I thought. No don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t rape.
Scolforo: Similar how?
Smith: Uh, having a baby out of wedlock.
Scolforo: That’s similar to rape?
Smith: No, no, no, but… put yourself in a father’s situation, yes.

Setting aside the broader politics of this, what a dick move, Dad.

[amyzzz]

I think the republicans need to keep on talking about rape and this election will be OURS. (democrats')