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A rape survivor tells her story for the 1st time, and asks you to think about it when you vote.
WED OCT 31, 2012 AT 05:43 AM PDT
A rape survivor tells her story for the 1st time, and asks you to think about it when you vote.
by gloriasb
I am a rape survivor. I cannot speak for every rape survivor; I can only describe my own experience. It is nothing like some of the recent politicians would like us to believe.
My name is Catherine. I was 24 years old that day. I waited at the bus stop in my baggy sweats with my backpack, just having finished a long hike. An approaching pickup truck slowed down. The driver asked me if I needed a ride. I said no. He continued down the road, then he turned around. He was out of the truck and dragging me into the bushes before I could react.
For me, this is what rape is:
It was screaming so hard and for so long for help that didnt come. Screaming that made me lose my voice for four days.
It was fighting so hard for myself, that when I was finally alone and could see, I saw that I had no fingernails left just bloody nail beds where my nails had been from fighting and scratching to fight off my rapist.
It was tears running down my bloody face because I wasnt strong enough to fight him anymore as he held me down and beat me into submission.
It was whimpering while praying as he thrust and pushed so hard against an unwilling participant, and calling on God to help me, wondering why he had abandoned me when I needed him the most.
I was raped I did not experience the rapture of Gods intention to bless me with a child.
I was raped it was not consensual, it was not legitimate, and my body certainly did not start working to shut down a conception process it was too busy fighting for its own life.
I was raped I am unable to categorize it as honest or dishonest rape. I can categorize as violent, painful and cruel. It was physically and psychologically scarring.
I was raped it was unexpected; I did not ask for it; it certainly wasnt planned. Does that make it an emergency rape?
I was raped for hours I fought for my life and the right to control who touches my body. Although I lost that fight, I did not rape easy.
I was raped I felt a lot of things when it became clear that it was inevitable. I hated my rapist. I hated myself. I hated God. There was no desire to relax, lie back and enjoy it.
Regardless of whether you are a man or a woman, if you think men and women in this country are overreacting to a few comments taken out of context, sit for a moment and think some more. Think hard about what your real, visceral reaction would be if your wife, mother, sister or daughter called you from the hospital to tell you she had just been raped.
Unfortunately, if your wife, mother, sister, or daughter were raped, you may never have the opportunity to feel a reaction, offer comfort or give support. You may notice some intangible change in the vitality of the woman you love, but to spare you the pain and anger of knowing what happened to her without being able to do anything about it, she may not tell you. Even if she wanted to, she may be afraid of what her family, friends, coworkers and society would think of her because on some level, our society still blames a woman in part for being raped. Why else are words like honest rape, legitimate rape and forcible rape being tolerated as part of our lexicon about this crime? My rape was thirteen years ago. I have not yet told my parents.
I have always considered the United States to be one of the most progressive countries in the world when it comes to womens rights.
That is why it angers me to see the word rape being used without thought and bandied about as a political ideological concept, rather than a word to describe a violent, abhorrent crime against women. I was raped. I am a survivor. I was fortunate enough to live in an age when I did not have to worry about bearing the child of the man who brutalized me. There are some in America who would force me to bear that child, in the name of some warped God-directed concept of respect for life
I ask you this: What god deserves worship who would bless a violent, soul-destroying act with an unwanted living reminder? What nation would allow a religion to write law that dehumanizes a woman into nothing but a vessel, as my rapist saw me?
I ask you this: Think of the women you love as you choose your lawmakers.
Thank you for reading my story.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/31/1152964/-A-rape-survivor-tells-her-story-for-the-1st-time-and-asks-you-to-think-about-it-when-you-vote
Happy Halloween!
TOLES: Romney Tax Desk
Storm provides Obama with a commander-in-chief moment
Source: Washington Post
For a day at least, Hurricane Sandy appears to have done for President Obama what he has not been able to do for himself.
In a campaign notable mostly for its negativity, the historic storm provided Obama with a commander-in-chief moment a week before Election Day. The president gained a rare moment of bipartisan praise, with Democratic and Republican governors alike commending the performance of the federal government. And the storm put on pause, for now, the sense that rival Mitt Romney had all the momentum in the home stretch.
On Wednesday, Obama will travel to New Jersey to tour damaged areas with Republican Gov. Chris Christie, a regular critic of the president who heaped praise on him in the aftermath of the storm, saying that the president has been all over this and he deserves great credit.
............................
The storm thrust Romney in the almost impossible position of trying to write a role for himself in the story that has gripped the nations attention. The GOP nominee held a relief event in Ohio to collect donations for storm victims, but the event had the trappings of a regular campaign rally, with the candidates standard theme music and biographical video. As Romney packed emergency supplies, he did not respond to reporters who asked whether he is reconsidering his earlier assertion that disaster management is a job that should be turned over to the states.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/decision2012/storm-provides-obama-with-a-commander-in-chief-moment/2012/10/30/5e645952-22c2-11e2-ac85-e669876c6a24_story.html
Pro-Assad page claims Syria and Iran engineered Hurricane Sandy
Sources confirm that hurricane Sandy, now buffeting the U.S., was carried out by highly advanced technology developed by the heroic Iranian regime, in coordination with our resistant regime. These sources have also confirmed that experts from Syria have contributed in carrying out this work. This is the consequence of attacking Assads Syria and threatening its security.http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/10/30/pro-assad-page-claims-syria-and-iran-engineered-hurricane-sandy/?wpisrc=nl_cuzheads
crickets...
Mitt Romney STILL Refuses To Talk About FEMA After Hurricane Sandy Event
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/30/mitt-romney-fema_n_2044213.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
Can I get a hell yeah?
TUE OCT 30, 2012 AT 09:50 PM PDT
Reason #26 to be optimistic: Nate Silver rises to 77.4% [+bonus good news]
byMeMeMeMeMeFollow
Nate Silver's http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/ latest prediction, as of T-minus 6 days before the election, is a 77.4% chance of Obama winning, up from a 72.9% chance just yesterday.
His electoral vote count stands at 299, up from 294.6 yesterday. This closely aligns with the current prediction of Sam Wang at Princeton Election Consortium, which stands at 305 electoral votes. http://election.princeton.edu/2012/10/31/election-night-scenario-tracking-tool/
Obama's numbers continue their long and steady rise for the past three weeks. Look at the trends. Ask yourself: would you trade places with Mitt Romney right now?
Bonus good news: Thanks to trix in comments, new Quinnipiac Ohio poll:
http://www.dailykos.com/comments/1152909/48177324#c5
Obama 50
Romney 45
Can I get a hell yeah?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/31/1152909/-Reason-1-to-be-optimistic-Nate-Silver-rises-to-77-4
UPDATE TO ADD: Latest Swing State Polls
Here are the latest polls from the battleground states:
Ohio: Obama 50%, Romney 45% (Quinnipiac)
Florida: Obama 48%, Romney 47% (Quinnipiac)
Michigan: Obama 48%, Romney 45% (Detroit News)
Pennsylvania: Obama 48%, Romney 44% (Franklin and Marshall)
Virginia: Obama 49%, Romney 47% (Quinnipiac)
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/10/31/latest_swing_state_polls.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PoliticalWire+%28Political+Wire%29
ANOTHER UPDATE:
Barack Obama to be re-elected President in 2012
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65.0%
CHANCE
Last prediction was: $6.50 / share
http://www.intrade.com/v4/markets/contract/?contractId=743474
Today's Change: +$0.09 (+1.4%)
TPM
The Big Polls So Far Today
DAVID KURTZ OCTOBER 31, 2012, 10:08 AM 454
NYT/CBS: Obama up 5 points in Ohio, 2 points in Virginia, and 1 point in Florida.
Franklin & Marshall College: Obama up 4 points in Pennsylvania.
PPP: Obama up by 5 in Wisconsin and in Iowa.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/10/the_big_polls_so_far_today.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Talking-Points-Memo+%28Talking+Points+Memo%3A+by+Joshua+Micah+Marshall%29
Women at the polls are going to make Republicans pay
American women will carry the day
GOP's gender problem
Next Tuesday, radical Republicans will be surprised if they think American women will let them get away with what they have said and what they believe: about rape, contraception, equal pay. They can deny all they want, but it is all on the public record, the crazy statements of Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock and all the rest.
Hiding behind their faith, these zealots have sought to take away the very rights women fought for throughout the long, hard decades of the 20th century.
In this camp are also Mitt Romney and Paul Ryanno matter how much they deny it.
.....................
Come next Tuesdays election, we will see that radiance rise again. American women are too slick to be hustled by an obvious game just watch.
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/american-women-carry-day-article-1.1193378#ixzz2Aqr4AoXL
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