As Seen On The Bathroom Wall

Take a look at these names:

Richard Burr (R-NC)
Tom Coburn (R-OK)
Mike Crapo (R-ID)
Jim DeMint (R-SC)
John Isakson (R-GA)
John McCain (R-AZ)
Richard Shelby (R-AL)
John Thune (R-SD)
David Vitter (R-LA)

Remember them come election time next year if they happen to represent your districts. These 9 men are part of a larger group of 30 who've chosen to take the side of large corporations who deem rape amongst employees to be something not worth criminally investigating but rather handled in-house via arbitration.

In layman's terms, they condone rape.

How? By believing that making contract clauses requiring victims of rape by fellow employees to not report said rape to the police illegal is wrongful governmental interference. Oh yes. The same individuals who went on for hours regarding ACORN, and how the government needs to get involved, are saying that the government should not bother with these corporations, that government shouldn't...well...govern, and that the Senate doesn't do things like that.

It's laughable, to be sure, to hear such a thing being uttered on Capitol Hill, but the sad reality is that there's nothing funny about rape. There's nothing amusing, enjoyable, or pleasant about it. How would any of those men feel if it had been their wife or their daughter who had been raped? How would they feel if their loved ones had been raped by a trusted co-worker, after being harassed without rebuke from supervisors, only to then be raped again - figuratively - by their employers who tell them that they can either handle it in arbitration or lose their job?

Well, I can probably guess, judging by their voting record and their speeches just what they think.

Tom Coburn, for example, condemns abortion in all cases - including rape - because his grandmother was raped.

It seems quite ironic, doesn't it? The Republican party strung up Bill Clinton by his balls in front of all of the world because he had consensual oral sex with an intern and set forth the only Impeachment ever to occur in the history of our country, and yet non-consensual sex, aka RAPE - RAPE-RAPE if Whoopi is reading this - is supported and protected! Who wants to be the person who voted in someone who condones rape? You? Do you want to be THAT husband? THAT father? Brother? Do you want to be that wife? That mother? Sister?

There are 30 men who run this country who condone rape, and we now know their names.

If we can't force them out, then let's vote them out.

Fighting Against Injustice Against Our Neighbors like looting from our neighbors.

Dec 9, 9:17 PM EST

Clashes, looting rock Greek cities for 4th night

By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS and ELENA BECATOROS
Associated Press Writer

ATHEN, Greece (AP) -- Masked youths and looters marauded through Greek cities for a fourth night Tuesday, in an explosion of rage triggered by the police shooting of a teenager that has unleashed the most violent riots in a quarter century.

The nightly scenes of burning street barricades, looted stores and overturned cars have threatened to topple the country's increasingly unpopular conservative government, which faces mounting calls for Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis to resign.

Police fired tear gas at protesters Tuesday following the funeral of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos, who was laid to rest in an Athens burial attended by about 6,000 people.

The rioting - which has engulfed cities from Thessaloniki in the north to the holiday island of Corfu and Crete in the south - threatens the 52-year-old Karamanlis, who already faced growing dissatisfaction over financial and social reforms at a time of deep anxiety over growing economic gloom.

Opposition Socialist leader George Papandreou called for early elections, charging the conservatives were incapable of defending the public from rioters.

"The government cannot handle this crisis and has lost the trust of the Greek people," Papandreou said. "The best thing it can do is resign and let the people find a solution ... We will protect the public."

The call was echoed by protesters, who, though they have not voiced any particular policy goals, say they want Karamanlis out.

"It's very simple - we want the government to fall. This boy's death was the last straw for us," Petros Constantinou, an organizer with the Socialist Workers Party, said in Athens. "This government wants the poor to pay for all the country's problems - never the rich - and they keep those who protest in line using police oppression."

Karamanlis, whose New Democracy party narrowly won re-election a year ago, has ignored the calls.

Greece was torn by years of civil war between communists and right-wing nationalists in the wake of World War II, and was ruled by a military dictatorship from 1967 to 1974.

Though a student uprising succeeded in ending military rule in 1974, it also left a legacy of activism and simmering tensions between the security establishment and a phalanx of deeply entrenched leftist groups that often protest against globalization and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and elsewhere.

The groups have now evolved into various mainly youth factions that claim to fight trends ranging from globalization to police surveillance cameras. Their impact is usually limited to graffiti and late-night firebomb attacks on targets such as stores and cash machines.

But the latest riots have moved far beyond the small antiestablishment groups to become a siege of Karamanlis' government. Teenagers and university students have joined self-styled anarchists in much of the rioting and destruction.

The fallout from the riots, which has seen police stations nationwide come under attack by rock- and Molotov cocktail-throwing youths, could be far-reaching.

"This reaction will register as major discontent in the next public opinion polls, which will hobble the government's effectiveness," political analyst Anthony Livanios told The Associated Press. Whenever the government tries to pass reforms, "Greek society will react - while the level of parliamentary opposition will increase."

The government is already facing public discontent over the state of the economy, the poor job prospects of students and a series of financial scandals that have badly rattled public confidence.

Greece is heavily dependent on tourism, which could decline as a result of the global economic crisis.

Karamanlis trails the Socialists in recent opinion polls and would struggle to win a general ballot now. His government clings to a single seat majority in the 300-member Parliament and could be brought down by a single defection, though it is unlikely any deputy would risk his political career to topple a government at a time of civil unrest.

A poll released Tuesday gave the Socialists a 4.8 percent lead over Karamanlis' conservatives. The poll gave no margin of error.

A senior Socialist party official, Christos Protopappas, blamed underlying social inequalities for the violence, saying the government's policies exacerbated the gap between rich and poor.

"If there is no change in policies, I fear that what will happen in six months or one year will be much worse," he said.

Analyst Livanios agreed. "This was an emotional reaction after public opinion was outraged by the unfortunate event of the teenager's killing," he said. "Clearly, during very negative economic conditions people with very low incomes and jobless people who can see no future for themselves became part of this social reaction."

On Tuesday, police fired tear gas to dispel dozens of youths throwing stones and sticks and setting trash cans on fire near the funeral for Grigoropoulos, whose death Saturday sparked the rioting. Dozens of local residents gathered on the streets, shouting at police to stop firing gas in the residential area.

Athens Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis said "the winds of destruction are blowing through our city."

Schools and universities across Greece were closed for the funeral and hundreds of teachers, university lecturers and students rallied in central Athens, where hundreds of teenagers threw rocks and scuffled with officers.

Still, the clashes were less severe than the rioting over the past three nights.

Amnesty International accused Greek police of heavy-handed tactics against protesters, saying police "engaged in punitive violence against peaceful demonstrators" instead of focusing on rioters.

----

Associated Press writers Derek Gatopoulos and Menelaos Hadjicostis contributed to this report.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Copyright 2008 Associated Press

The foundation of marriage is under attack.

I'm not talking about one man and one woman. I'm talking about the interference from governmental entities, egged on by religious groups and political parties whom feel that, while the government should stay out of THEIR business, they have every right to force their beliefs and their opinions down our throats and into our lives via that very same government.

Sure, one can argue that the foundation of marriage consists of two people who love each other and want to swear before anyone who will listen, God, country, Elvis, that they are committed to spend the rest of their lives with each other. I won't argue against that. But, for many people, ESPECIALLY of the heterosexual variety, marriage can simply be a way of making sure that they don't give birth to a "bastard", or ensuring the citizenship of someone, getting tax benefits that they otherwise wouldn't have, etc...

You know. All of the things that those whom support Proposition 8 accuse those against of doing.

They claim that marriage is under attack. I suppose when Elizabeth Taylor was marrying and divorcing her first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh husband, the state of matrimony was perfectly safe.

I guess when Britney Spears had her 55 hour marriage, that was perfectly acceptable. Didn't do anything to sully the institution.

The failed marriages of Republican paragons Ronald Regan (divorced first wife), Newt Gingrich (divorced 2 wives, now on his third marriage with his second mistress), John McCain (cheated on first wife with his now second), Fred Thompson (on his second marriage with his "trophy wife"), and Rudy Giuliani (third marriage) should definitely not have any affect what-so-ever on the foundation of marriage, should it? Maybe they strengthened the foundation of marriage by simply liking it so much, they did it many times over!

And as far as teaching about homosexual marriages in schools go, I might be a few years removed from the elementary age (okay, so I'm almost 30, whaddyagunnadonboutit, punk?) but I don't ever recall a discussion about marriage, period, until I was in high school when we had to plan a wedding for my sociology class. By then, of course, most of my political leanings had been set in stone, as is, I'm sure, most teenagers that are in school today.

But, let's say that marriage is being discussed in elementary schools right now. What exactly are they learning about heterosexual marriage? Is it a religious union or a governmental one? Does it occur with or without a dowry? First, second, third marriages - who exactly is the step-step parent? You know, these things are all questions that I'm sure must be addressed when speaking about heterosexual marriages, right?

Or is the whole "A man and woman get married to have a family" line still being tossed around? I know many a man and woman marriages that will NEVER result in a "family" of anything other than the four legged kind. Does that mean their marriage isn't a "real" marriage?

We can talk about religion, if you want, but if let's face it. Government and religion shouldn't be bedfellows. I'm sure a lot of Christians would feel quite miffed if the Jewish and Islamic laws of Halal and Kosher eating were instilled, preventing them from enjoying their bacon and eggs every morning as a governmental edict. If you're not willing to allow all religious laws (including the Christian ones, for all of you PC (pick and choose) Christians out there) then please, don't bring religion into the forming of laws AT ALL. It only makes you look like a bigot, and we know how much you hate THAT word.

Vote no on Prop 8. It's not about God, or Sex, or Children. It's about equality.