The way to fight back against Republicans who ban you from speaking after using the word "vagina" on the House floor? You perform "The Vagina Monologues," naturally.
Massive crowds gathered today on the steps of the Michigan capital to watch State Rep. Lisa Brown and about 10 other female lawmakers give a dramatic reading. The congresswoman was silenced after uttering the word "vagina" on the floor last week while debating an anti-abortion bill.
"I have not asked you to adopt and to adhere to my religious beliefs. Why are you asking me to adopt yours?” Rep. Lisa Brown demanded. “And finally Mr. Speaker, I'm flattered that you're all so interested in my vagina, but no means no."
That got her barred from speaking the next day. Michigan House Speaker James Bolger said in a statement that she "failed to maintain the decorum of the House of Representatives."
Apparently, it remains taboo to mentioning the female lady parts.
Brown defended her use of "vagina" as the appropriate bodily term in an op-ed for the The Detroit News. "I used that word because we were debating a women's health issue. Vagina, by the way, is the correct medical name of a part of women's anatomy lawmakers want to regulate," Brown wrote. "My statements were within the rules of the House and were clearly appropriate in relation to the bill we were discussing."
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Perhaps the breach in decorum that got the good representative barred from speaking for 24 hours was her insulting insinuation that the House Speaker might be considered to be a rapist in her statement that "I'm flattered that you are all so interested in my vagina, but NO means NO!" She meant to cause a moment of sensation, she meant to offend in her choice of words. So she paid the price. Case closed!
You are parroting the third or so excuse from the MI House Speaker's spokesperson. Nobody is buying these ridiculous excuses for the attack on free speech. The House Republicans have said worse on the floor and were even applauded for it, but this was a woman speaking on reproductive rights. Forty women were denied their right to speak on this issue to the Health Policy Committee the week before. Well, this is a democracy. You may not like what I have to say, but I have the right to say it, and so does Lisa Brown and Barbara Byrum and any other woman who stands up to speak about an issue that affects her own body.
who ever let these women out of the kitchen should be barred from access to vaginas
ok looney tune. perhaps you dont equate assault to rape. or maybe you dont equate crashing the economy to theft. or maybe you dont equate j-walking to jeopardizing the lives of drivers. or maybe you do equate free speech with violence and maybe your paranoid brain gets a threat notice everytime someone says repubes are nuts. and maybe you figure the answer to your imperfect world is to make it perfect.
What the heck are you talking about Joseph and who exactly are you addressing?
Ann, no one has a "right" to address an committee hearing unless it has been opened to the public, but this was not the case in Michigan. That was a closed hearing of invited experts to testify. And one might have the right of free speech on the front steps of the State House, but one can't claim that right in the State House legislative sessions if they are in violation of the decorum of the body's chamber. And clearly in her choice of words the representative meant to challenge and disrupt that decorum.
"Invited experts" that didn't include obstetricians or gynecologists.
There's a reason why Michigan is turning into a cesspool. One need look no further than public servants ranting about their vagina...while Flint and Detroit sink into ever-increasing scumminess.
Stay classy, Michigan!
Emily, if you are speaking of the Congressional hearings, the subject was relgious freedom and the inpairment of that by the Health and Human Services mandates over insurance coverage for universal free birth control including Plan B abortion causing prescriptions. The experts invited to testify were from the religious institutions and societies that were adversely impacted by these mandates. Sandra Fluke and ob/gyn and midwives weren't needed for the scope of that investigation.
None of this stuff matters. The Southern Baptist believe that Jesus is coming soon and that will be the end of the world. I am a hypcrit because I belong to a Southern Baptist Church because i get along fine with at least some of the people, but I don't believe what they believe. The problem I have with what they believe is that reason has no place in interpreting the bible. They think that God wrote the bible, but are unable to explain why it says "The Gospel According to John, etc." I wish I could beleong to a church that says the word of God is only what Jesus said. Alos why anyone would like to live forever is nonsense. What would I do for trillions of years, play chess? Mroe than a trillion years. Its crazy.
@Keith - maybe you have a point, but after watching what the house is doing in MI for the last two years, what she said was more than appropriate. Abortion, Public Unions, Tax cuts instead of funding schools, and the proliferation of testing over teaching has demoralized the entire state. Not to mention, their lack of constitutionality by fast tracking laws without the proper number of votes in the house. Go troll something else, Keith. Repubs in MI are in the wrong on this one.
Thanks for bring up the fast tracking laws issue. That was created to deal with emergencies/immediate crisis situations. Not to rush a complicated human rights issue through the process. So wrong.
Seems to me that I am hardly a troller with my active participation on this blog site, Dan.
And as to Michigan, I see its coming out of its economic funk due to the initiatives of the Republican Governor now that the Democrat-Socialist Canadian gal is out of office, that Granholme (who used to be the hottest female Governor after Republican Sarah Palin, but is surpassed by the Republican Mickey Halley of South Carolina, imo). LOL!
Grandpa isn't a troll, and he isn't a racist, or a homophobic sexist...
Just ask him...
there is something SEVERLY wrong with the republican brain
something is missing
its like they all have the same disease
from all appearances, it resembles BIPOLAR disorder - especially with that paul ryan fella
mitt is a pandering whore
its like they each picked a sin from the Bible of Jesus to specialize in
unless they are all a bunch of closet gays, why are they afraid of women?
Why are you so queer for Obama and the gay parade, Joseph? Examine yourself before painting all others with your brush dipped in the pail of sexual obsession!
Unfortunately everyone born before 1960 must die for this country to change for the better. The people that lived throught the 40's 50's and early 60 as cognisant adults have a distortion to thier views that IS the repulbican detachment from reality.
How is it that you can deny access to birth control, ban abortion even in the case of rape, forcing the uterus to gestate the sperm. Oh right republicans are neanderthals. Sorry for insulting the intellectual capacity of neanderthals.
...says the obvious idiot ravaged by rampant liberalism that is spreading and killing civility, moral standards, and the will for self-preservation. It's okay, it's the disease making you say all of this stupid @!$%# - we understand.
So instead of the Jews, the Gypsies, and the Commies you want to exterminate all of the greatest generation survivors and the major number of the Baby Boomer generation, hmmm Tom?
Last I looked (which was Saturday evening) every grocery store, pharmacy, and convenience store sells condoms, and every pharmacy sells birth control devices and medications by prescription. And according to the US Surpreme Court ruling on this subject in Rowe vs. Wade the states have within their power to regulate by law the aspects of the provision of 2nd and 3rd Trimester Pregnancies. And no state bars 2st trimester prenancies. So what exactly is your argument, stupid?
Keith, the simple fact that you fail to comprehend is that calling them "birth control" is a misnomer, at best.
Those pills are more hormone-regulating medication, and millions of those prescriptions ob/gyns write for those medications are for reasons other than "birth control."
It's a MEDICATION, and I, for one, do NOT want the government to be making decisions that are best made by myself and my doctor.
Why don't you guys get that fact? Is it something that didn't properly develop in your brain as you were supposedly growing up? Do you consistently feel the need to post on threads about subjects you obviously know so little about?
Find a doctor of another sort, because you surely need both a psychologist and a teacher. . . you know, to make you a lot smarter than you seem in your posts.
If birth control is a common medication, why does it have to have FREE co-pay and deductions in the one size fits all Obama Non-Affordable care? No other prescribed medication is granted FREE Co-Pay status; it was a politically charged decision meant to buy women's votes (pretty cheaply at that), estimated to cost only $60 a year on average. Of course, once provided as an interest group benefit, it opens the door for other interest group manipiulations of the Obama Care Act also, does it not, Sarah?
BTW, why is it that health insurance companies, even those who serve Catholic institutions, include Viagra in their "list of covered medications," but not hormone medication for women?
After all, Viagra only has ONE use, and that is to be able to give and receive pleasure, period. There is NO other use for Viagra!
Right on cous'!
Because men are the dominant species, for the most part, and can procreate well into their 90's. You guys dry-up around 45 or so or produce Down's babies and other abominations.
Just deal with it - it's biology.
Viagra is an ego boosting medication that is helpful for a medically diagnosed problem, (although a good blow job would ordinarily do the trick if available as a substitute) and it comes with copays and deductions applied to its availability. It is especially helpful for males experiencing depression and anxiety as it aids their intimate relationship with their partner. Unfortunatly, there really isn't a whole lot that can be accomplished with the female experience with depression and anxiety that can't be attributed to PMS or Menopause, other than antidepressive and antianxiety medications (or in the worst cases, psychotropic medications). Except for a good session in the bedroom of course, provided by their partner.
Is one of the possible effect of Viagra the possibility of damaging the eyes and being blind?
No, thats masturbation's side effect just as your mother taught you, Agustus.
Augustus, Viagra can affect vision so badly that pilots are not allowed to use it before flying. It can also drop blood pressure so severely as to cause heart attacks and strokes.
There's a whole lot of ignorance on this board. The fact remains that hormonal therapy is much, much safer for a woman than viagra is for men. Plus, hormonal therapy has many, many non-contraceptive uses. I know someone who died in childbirth. I know someone else who nearly died from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. Pregnancy kills women more often than you might think. Abortion has far fewer risks to a woman than childbirth. Birth control is safer than either of those other options.
I think the biggest problem is that they are trying to make the law pretty by saying it would make it a crime to coerce a woman into having an abortion, regulates the disposal of fetal remains and basically sets higher standards for the procedure and the facilities and the doctors, thereby making the claim that they are protecting women. Then they gloss over the ban on abortion after 20 weeks, emphasize the exception where the mother's life is concerned, and then ignore the fact that there are a lot of other exceptions that need to be taken into consideration with the umbrella argument that babies are people too and they have the right to live.
Well the fact of the matter is, that baby is inside a woman and that woman is a living, breathing, thinking person, and has the right to do, with her body and health, whatever she feels is right to do. Such as if the baby is malformed, i.e. is missing half a brain, that may not be realized until after 20 weeks. The woman may then decide that they would see it as a merciful action to terminate the pregnancy as opposed to bring the baby to full term and allowing them to live a miserable, painful short life while they wait for it to die naturally.
The fact of the matter is, Republicans are ignoring the other issues, and refusing to listen to the other side of the argument is the most un-American thing they could possibly do. Not to mention the huge hypocrisy whereas the Republican party constantly talks about smaller government, but then they dare to force their beliefs into women's lives through the government.
Rowe vs. Wade, 2nd and 3rd trimester abortion regulations appropriate for the states, Emily. It is settled law!
Leave to a liberal progressive of the ugly variety to make it all about HER vagina...which I understand will be doing stand-up at the Comedy Trap throughout the weekend. There's a five-finger minimum, so be prepared.
Dear Sarah-doesn't-understand-plain-English-Muller,
The woman wasn't barred for her word choice, or for being a woman. She was barred for being personally and grossly insulting. It could have been a man saying "I'm flattered that you are interested in having sex with my dog" and gotten the same response.
Let me guess, you are (a) democrat and (b) irrational feminist.
PMSing too, no doubt.
Those of you who are bothering to argue with these ineptly armed fools are wasting your time! It just brings one down to their level. Take the advice of our President and continue to rise above their ignorant drivel.
These idiots are nothing more than fish thrashing on a bank somewhere, desperately trying to get air to survive. They are loosing their battle. Evolution does not favor the weakest link in our species. Think about how long people of color have been around...yeah. The fact that whites are losing their numerical majority has them freaking out...and doing some really heinous @!$%#.
The scientific fact that we can cross two eggs and get another female really must blow their little minds. All males have been reduced to nothing more than fertilizer, expendable.
As for the the dude who trusts in god...getta' @!$%#in' clue here buddy-bouy...we may dry up at 45 and become unproductive, but we...old white women, just happen to be the largest population in this country. White males stress themselves into early death...some with the help of Viagra...trying to indeed perform that vital sex act well after their bodies have indicated that is no longer an option. You keep on ranting...we'll keep on keeping' on, cuz that's what women do.
Hey biden supporter, did you see the Time Magazine article that details how sperm has become America's most renewable export? Seems that other nation's females are quoying up for the stuff, as our laws don't shield the donors in anonimity as do other nations, hence intelligence, disease status, appearance, success, etc can all be traced and selection can be assured for the survival of the fittest.
Lisa Brown should be ashamed. All this stunt (and it was a stunt) was to give credence to her losing bid this November to become Oakland County Clerk.
She doesn't have an argument against the Republican incumbent and she'll play Obama by paint all Republicans in the same manner as her childish diatribe!
Unfortunately for her, her vagina argument doesn't hold water, or any other liquid.
Face it Libs: This woman is a worse amateur than the President she worships!
Enjoy your term limited siesta, Lisa! Maybe you can do some remedial study on decorum and class?
Are you saying she leaks all over herself fairly often, LibsRNuts? There is medication for that, and special panties too.
Libs urinate all over themselves on a daily basis defending the indefensible.
Lisa Brown is no exception.