The American Republican Party and their attitude to rape.

danniemcq

A bill in the Pennsylvania House proposing the reduction of welfare benefits for low-income women contains a provision requiring a woman who became pregnant from rape to prove that she reported her assault.

As ThinkProgress reported, the measure, proposed by four Republicans and one Democrat, seeks to eliminate an increase in benefits if a child is conceived while a woman is covered under the Temporary Assistance To Needy Family program. A woman can seek an exception to this if the child is conceived as a result of rape. However, she must prove that she reported the incident to the authorities and gave the police her assaulter's identity. The bill reads:

Elimination of benefits under subsection (d) shall not apply to any child conceived as a result of rape or incest if the department: (1) receives a non-notarized, signed statement from the pregnant woman stating that she was a victim of rape or incest, as the case may be, and that she reported the crime, including the identity of the offender, if known, to a law enforcement agency having the requisite jurisdiction or, in the case of incest where a pregnant minor is the victim, to the county child protective service agency and stating the name of the law enforcement agency or child protective service agency to which the report was made and the date such report was made.
According to the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network, 54 percent of rapes and sexual assaults are not reported to the police.

Last month, New Mexico's Children, Youth and Families Department considered a similar measure that would have only exempted victims of "forcible rape" from having to file child support claims against an absent parent. Gov. Susana Martinez (R) quickly pulled the "forcible" language after the proposal sparked backlash.

taken from here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/24/pennsylvania-welfare-benefits-rape_n_2012417.html

Now, in the last few weeks we've had republicans saying that "you cannot get pregnant through legitimate rape" (story here) and that if "you get pregnant through rape its god will" (story here)

How in this day in age can people still say stuff like this and believe it. And how can anyone believe them and stand by them and even vote for them.

I know no political parties are gaff free and all have people who say things they shouldn't but this is happening way to often on this topic.

I'm sure there are a lot of people out there that know someone affected by rape and i can't imagine what must go through their heads when they read something like this.

I would have thought that comments like this would be from some bizarre minor party that everyone just laughs at but not a party that has someone running for the presidency of the United States and current polls have them neck and neck with the democrats.

Dravokivich

I'll only be concerned if parties here start spouting that shíte to be honest. Don't think any of'em would be dumb enough to even do it as a gaff.

Jimoslimos

danniemcq wrote: »

I would have thought that comments like this would be from some bizarre minor party that everyone just laughs at but not a party that has someone running for the presidency of the United States and current polls have them neck and neck with the democrats.

Problem is with a two party system the loonies have to gravitate somewhere.

Wacker The Attacker

Thread title is a little misleading. There was democrat involvement

danniemcq

Jimoslimos wrote: »

Problem is with a two party system the loonies have to gravitate somewhere.

I understand yeah that its a 2 party system over there but surely constant comments like this you would think would mean that there would be a massive drop in support for the Republican party and a jump in either the Democratic party or a chance for a third party to gain support.

I know in theory it would be like throwing your vote away but with enough of a number shift this would have to send a message.

for instance this country was recently always a FF/FG government FF fecked it up and dropped big time and other lower rated parties like Labour or SF made leaps forward. This has forced FF to radically change (look at the guy in charge now compared to last 2 numptys)

hatrickpatrick

This isn't a "gaffe", this is what Republicans actually believe.

I despise this party with a passion I can barely describe. As a Christian, they make the rest of us look like complete d!ckheads AND nutjobs at the same time.

They harp on and on about "small government" when it comes to the economy, and then they turn around and say "by the way, what people do in their own bedrooms is our business and we will regulate it".

Scum of the Earth in my view. Ironically, they share a great many characteristics with the ultra religious Middle East governments they're always trying to find excuses to start wars with.

danniemcq

Wacker The Attacker wrote: »

Thread title is a little misleading. There was democrat involvement

I did mention that in my comments that there are people in each party that are idiots (i think thats the technical term for them), the point I'm trying to make in this thread is that this is 4 incidents in the last couple of weeks (the other being the one at the bottom of original story) that have had republicans as the main source and it seems like this is way to common for statements so backwards

danniemcq

danniemcq wrote: »

I understand yeah that its a 2 party system over there but surely constant comments like this you would think would mean that there would be a massive drop in support for the Republican party

No.

40-50% of the American population (depends on the poll you look at) are young-earth creationists, which means 40-50% of the American population are so insane and detached from reality that they will cling to their delusional conservatism no matter what. I have no doubt that a sizeable chunk of them (women and all) actually agree with the comments.

stevenmu

I think this example is very different to the previous ones.

In this case they want to remove an extra welfare payment that mothers get when they have babies while on welfare, presumably because this payment could be seen as encouraging people on welfare to have babies.

This time around they are actually acknowledging that women may get pregnant due to circumstances beyond their control, i.e. through rape, and they are not removing the extra payment for them. This is reasonable, sensible, and possibly even compassionate.

The only real issue here, is that in order to get this exemption, they are saying that the victim must have reported it to the police. This does make sense from a government point of view, if it was just a tick box on a form, anyone and everyone could just tick it and keep getting their extra welfare. By ensuring there is a police report, they make it more likely that only genuine people make the claim. It's definitely logical, even if it's in a cold bureaucratic dispassionate way.

To be fair, this time they are trying to take victims of rape into account, and be fair and reasonable to them. They may not be doing a great job of it, but it's a tricky subject, I'm not sure what they could do better in this case.

smurgen

pro life - supports death sentence.....sums them up!

stevenmu

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

They harp on and on about "small government" when it comes to the economy, and then they turn around and say "by the way, what people do in their own bedrooms is our business and we will regulate it".

In what way are they regulating what people do in their own bed rooms?

Wacker The Attacker

danniemcq wrote: »

I did mention that in my comments that there are people in each party that are idiots (i think thats the technical term for them), the point I'm trying to make in this thread is that this is 4 incidents in the last couple of weeks (the other being the one at the bottom of original story) that have had republicans as the main source and it seems like this is way to common for statements so backwards

I mentioned the thread title.

It doesnt mention it there

Jimoslimos

danniemcq wrote: »

I understand yeah that its a 2 party system over there but surely constant comments like this you would think would mean that there would be a massive drop in support for the Republican party and a jump in either the Democratic party or a chance for a third party to gain support.

I know in theory it would be like throwing your vote away but with enough of a number shift this would have to send a message.

for instance this country was recently always a FF/FG government FF fecked it up and dropped big time and other lower rated parties like Labour or SF made leaps forward. This has forced FF to radically change (look at the guy in charge now compared to last 2 numptys)

Despite the almost identical ideology of the two parties it would be too much of a jump for most voters to switch preference. Think of it almost as hardcore FF/FG voting families would.

The jump in popularity required for smaller parties to make an impact is also too large, it's why you see Libertarian elements in the Republican party, although I'm sure they'd be happier to be free from the Tea Party element. However the balance is so fine that any schism would play immediately into Dem hands, so unity for the greater good and all that.

Having independent factions, and this is where US politics differs most greatly from the UK or Ire whip system, allows parties to target a diverse range of voters, defending idiotic comments from rogue elements is the flip side.

czx

Deleted User wrote: »

40-50% of the American population are so insane and detached from reality that they will cling to their delusional conservatism no matter what.

So up to 50% of the US is insane?

Music4life

Speaking of Republicans check this out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MgOq9pBkY0I

suicide_circus

Ron Paul is my kind of republican

pabloh999

smurgen wrote: »

pro life - supports death sentence.....sums them up!

In fairnes pro life means protecting unborn life, death sentence is for murdering raping scum
The two arent really connected

danniemcq

pabloh999 wrote: »

In fairnes pro life means protecting unborn life, death sentence is for murdering raping scum
The two arent really connected

unless it turns out that the person executed was innocent?

from the great resource that is yahoo answers:

There are 8 cases since 1976 when executions restarted, with significant indications the victim may have been innocent. See: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?&did=2238

BTW, since 1973 when the death penalty was reinstated, there have been 129 people from 26 states released from death row with evidence of their innocence (not just on a technicality)
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=412&scid=6

golden lane

freedom to have an opinion...and the freedom to voice that opinion....

that is the most important point......

i fear some posters on here would like that curtailed........

Ellis Dee

There's no denying that there are plenty of whack-jobs and religious fundamentalists in American politics - mainly on the Republican side, but quite a few among the Democrats as well - but let's not run away with ourselves and lose perspective. We have quite a few here as well. Just look at that silly bint from Ballina - the Taoiseach's own constituency - who recently stood up in the Dail and told us teenage pregnancies are caused by fornication.:rolleyes::rolleyes:

And, for all the failings and bizzareness in the USA, women there who find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy, can still have a termination in virtually every part of their own country and don't have to go to Canada in the same way as our women have to go to England.:cool:

kowloon

American politicians shout out how religious they are, even if they aren't whereas politicians over this side of the Atlantic are more likely to hide strong religious beliefs. I'm not sure I like either way, they're still lying politicians.

Reindeer

Music4life wrote: »

Speaking of Republicans check this out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MgOq9pBkY0I

Colbert has one of the most interesting responses so far: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvtJU8ohTfs

He also covers a bit of the GOP's fondness for rape in that clip as well. The episode was a pretty good one.

Here are the gallop polls I dug up on religion in the US: http://www.gallup.com/poll/1690/religion.aspx

http://www.gallup.com/poll/155003/Hold-Creationist-View-Human-Origins.aspx

I have a few acquaintances that are heavily religious, being as I'm from Texas and all. I was raised Lutheran myself, but have strayed significantly since. One of the aforementioned acquaintances spends much of his time trying to 'prove' that Christianity is the 'one true religion', at least his favourite version of Christianity; 'Church of Christ'. I found this an odd endeavor as from personal experience I know very well his understanding of Lutheranism was woeful, let alone any other religions outside his own. He is basically going the opposite route science does - he is trying to prove something by deliberately ignoring evidence outside of what he wishes to prove. So... In a recent conversation I asked him if he could tell me the difference between 'faith' and 'knowledge'. I was informed that they were one and the same. It is difficult to debate a person such as this because their definitions and semantics are detached from any standard outside of their own. Not only are dialogues contrary to his beliefs unacceptable, but no dialog to the contrary could even make sense to such a person. Your arguments begin and end as one-sided. I would say his attitude is very typical among the religious folk I know in Texas, and not necessarily limited to Texas itself.

Feathers

Dravokivich wrote: »

I'll only be concerned if parties here start spouting that shíte to be honest. Don't think any of'em would be dumb enough to even do it as a gaff.

Eh...

"Bertie Ahern in 2007&#34 wrote:

Sitting on the sidelines, cribbing and moaning is a lost opportunity. I don't know how people who engage in that don't commit suicide

Because some economists questioned the boom, iirc. Keep in mind this remark got a round of applause too.

B0jangles

Came across this on another forum:



(Chart of the various types of rape acknowledged by republican politicians.)