Had Enough?

As mentioned in my previous two posts below, the Foster Friess comments and subsequent hoo-rah gives one pause when it comes to women's rights. I returned to his blog this morning to see if they finally posted my comment.

They had.





Friess' masculine masthead phot0 and title puts me in mind of another famous campfire scene:

Women, Aspirin and Contraception

Foster Friess has done Liberals a favor.  He has everyone talking about the reactionary rhetoric of the Rick Santorum campaign and its Right Wing boosters (like his own badass self).   His remarks yesterday have energized the dialogue about Women's Rights, what the 2012 GOP platform is really striving for and what lies in wait should they somehow be re-elected.   

The timing couldn't have been better.  His crass "joke", as he called it, coincided with the all male panel convened by Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to discuss denying access to birth control.  Afterwards, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi sent an email urging people to sign this petition:  

 "We almost couldn’t believe it. Today, at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing, House Republicans convened a panel on denying access to birth control converge with five men and no women. As my colleague Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney asked, where are the women?" Pelosi says in the email. "Join me in our call to Speaker Boehner, Eric Cantor, Chairman Issa and all House Republicans to demand that women be brought to the table when discussing women’s health issues. Help us gather 50,000 signatures before Congress heads home tomorrow." 

Several Democratic lawmakers had walked out of the meeting to protest Rep. Darryl Issa's (R:Calif) "refusal to allow a progressive woman to testify in favor of the Obama administration's contraception rule."

House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) defended his decision to not allow a women to testify at his hearing on the Obama administration’s new birth control rule yesterday, telling Fox News host Greta Van Susteren last night that the woman’s story wasn’t at all relevant to the hearing.  thinkprogress.org 

Back to Friess; it was all over the news he'd apologized as of this morning.  Had to visit his blog to find it.  Rather than reprint, you may link to his arguable apology.

My reaction to the Reactionary?

That's a disingenuous response at best.  You may be old but you aren't dead.  Your ideas, however, should be buried in the past along with segregation, women not having the vote, men being the only legal landholders.  

I think you knew perfect well what you were saying.

On the other hand, there is nothing like re-visiting a sacred cow like Women's Rights to stir up opposition to Right Wing who would love to go back to the "good old days" whatever they may be.

24 Hour later update:  Friess' blog & web site are back up but my comment is "still awaiting moderation".