Not All Women
What will we be, after all, if men don’t chase us and whistle at us and tell us we’re pretty? What will we be if they don’t need us to cook and clean and raise their children? What will we be if they don’t call us or ask us to dance?
Religion
Faith and Healing in America
These plans are a scam. They are modern-day snake oil. They are group-think faith healing. If there’s an afterlife, the people running these programs will surely burn in hell. But you can’t pay medical bills with a promissory note of brimstone.
Bad Religion, Good Story
If Charles Dickens were writing a modern day tale about a family of power-hungry evangelicals brought down by their own hypocrisy, greed, and a hint of pool boy sex scandal, you have to figure he’d consider calling them the Falwells. I mean, it’s perfect. Because the Falwells are, well, falling.
We See You, Mike Pence, and We’re Listening
Look, you could go back to any administration in our history and find examples of our leaders wasting our money. This is not a partisan problem; it’s an American problem. But I don’t believe we’ve ever asked the taxpayers to spend a ton of money that would end up in the actual pocket of the President. The first family is running a massive scam, the second family is in on it, and we are all being robbed.
Spare Me the Psychic Force
Our leaders should not trust feelings over facts. We should not elect anyone whose greatest strength is an ability to spout convincing nonsense. And being an outsider is not, in and of itself, a virtue. In fact, we know this. We know it because we’ve already elevated a cocksure, lying, anti-science buffoon to the White House. Let’s not make the same mistake twice.
Don’t Blame Us
It’s sort of like a person on a diet who knows the only way he’ll be able to resist the temptation of ice cream is to avoid bringing ice cream into his home. But women are not ice cream. We’re not optional or frivolous or bad for your health. Women are like water. You actually need us to survive.
Unqualified and Unfit
When men refuse to hire or work with women strictly because they are women, that’s clear discrimination. It’s the sort of discrimination that sets women back professionally. And it’s against the law.
Sock it to Us
Can you imagine what would happen if a man were forced to get outside permission to take Viagra or to have a vasectomy? Suppose we made men stand before a court of mostly women and justify their medical decisions. Perhaps we’d ask men to explain in great detail why they have so much trouble maintaining an erection or why they’ve decided to eliminate future potential children. Maybe we’d tell men that impotence is a sign that God doesn’t want them to have sex and that they have no right to interfere with God’s plans.
To Do the Right Thing
It is no small thing for a son or daughter to speak out against a parent. It is harder still, I imagine, to do so under the glare of court and camera. But it was the right thing to do.
When the Church is the Criminal
The truth is, churches are not a safe place for children. I’m not saying children shouldn’t go to church with their parents, but I am saying that no child should ever be entrusted to a church leader. No child should ever be left alone or in small groups with a pastor or a youth pastor or a priest. The risks are too great.