Get out of my uterus! Fighting for women’s rights

This is the battle cry for women all over the United States that are fighting the invasion on their personal privacy. The right to choose contraception is something that shouldn’t be in the hands of the government or religious groups. In fact, as I as am writing this I thought maybe I was talking about Iran, not the United States.

From political candidates to committees made up of all men, the decision to use contraception is being forced out of women’s hands. Why?

I can’t help thinking that there is a more sinister motive behind this attack on women’s rights. Am I crazy or paranoid? Perhaps. But when I think of how much lives changed after the women’s rights movement, I wonder if there are some people that would like to go back to the time when women remained in the home to clean, cook and make and care for babies. Maybe there are some people that think women are taking over jobs that could go to men. Or maybe there are some people that don’t like the idea of women in the military.

Take away contraception and guess what happens—women end up pregnant. Pregnancy could delay a woman going off to college or taking that promotion at work. And yet, these same people make sure that men can get free supplies of Viagra. With all those erections walking around and no contraception, we are in for a population surge unless we can all learn to master the pull out method.

Impinging on women’s rights probably won’t stop with contraception. What rights will be taken away next? Will women lose the right to dress as they please? Will they be told when and how to have sex? If you still don’t think this is an important issue, read this quote from a 2006 interview with Rick Santorum where he talks about his opposition to contraception:

“It’s not OK because it’s a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be,” he said. They’re supposed to be within marriage, they are supposed to be for purposes that are, yes, conjugal, but also, but also procreative. That’s the perfect way that a sexual union should happen. We take any part of that out, we diminish the act. And if you can take one part out that’s not for purposes of procreation, that’s not one of the reasons, then you diminish this very special bond between men and women, so why can’t you take other parts of that out? And all of a sudden, it becomes deconstructed to the point where it’s simply pleasure. And that’s certainly a part of it—and it’s an important part of it, don’t get me wrong—but there’s a lot of things we do for pleasure, and this is special, and it needs to be seen as special.”

Maybe I’m not so paranoid after all. Do we really want the government taking away contraception and telling us how a sexual union should happen?

Please, get the hell out of my uterus!

 

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating…Sensual…Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/ Check out my long hair hotties!

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

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A Greek vampire, Celtic kings, vengeful goddesses, an ancient faery curse…

All three books of my Dark Goddess trilogy are available in Print and Ebook. Set in dark age Scotland, I mixed history with a Samhain/Beltaine myth that revolves around an Irish clan and the goddesses Brigit and Cailleach.

http://kelleyheckart.com/BookShelf.html

Killing wolves again

I thought the country was on the right track in the mid-1990s when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released 66 wolves in Yellowstone and central Idaho. Finally, the wolf had returned from extinction. But in April of 2011 Congress removed wolves in Montana and Idaho from the protection of the Endangered Species Act. It didn’t take long for hunters to start killing wolves.

Personally, this is heartbreaking for me to see a beautiful, intelligent animal murdered for no good reason other than for the enjoyment of killing. The opposition to wolves has made false claims like wolves carry a tapeworm that can be transmitted to dogs and humans or that the Canadian wolves that were brought in are a different species and will kill elk, deer, livestock, even humans, for sport. I have never heard of a human killed by a wolf except for in fables. Wolves are elusive creatures and prefer to stay away from humans. They will normally run from people.

Wolves have been painted as demons and witches in myths, fables and in books like Cotton Mather’s On Witchcraft. What I don’t understand is why. It might be because wolves killed some livestock and competed with humans for food, but I can’t see that happening today. The ranchers complaining about wolves attacking their livestock ranch on federal land. Big game hunters don’t want wolves reducing the big game population. Boo hoo. I don’t feel sorry for hunters that hunt for sport. Find another hobby that doesn’t involve killing something just for fun.

If anyone has any doubts about wolves and how they live, I suggest visiting the Sawtooth Wolf Pack website, Living with Wolves, and watching the videos on the Sawtooth Wolf Pack on youtube. See how wonderful these animals live, how they are loving, loyal and intelligent, far from the vicious beasts they are portrayed as by those that oppose wolves. After having wolves welcomed back from extinction only to see them vilified and killed off again, is tragic. We have truly de-evolved as humans.

Note: I want to dedicate this post to my Grandma Betty who passed away recently. She shared my love of wolves.

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating…Sensual…Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/ Check out my long hair hotties!

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

http://kelleyheckart.com/TheEnchantedMeadow.html

http://kelleyheckart.com/BookShelf.html

More gun-related drama in AZ

Republicans and guns seem to go together like Chihuahuas and tacos, especially in Arizona. As a gimmick to try and raise money for get-out-the-vote efforts in Pima County, the same county as the deadly shooting that seriously wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six people, the Republican Party is raffling off a gun. And not just any gun—a Glock—the same weapon used in that shooting.

It’s hard to tell if this is poor judgment or an intentional affront to the tragedy. Either way, the people in charge of this fund raising event could have picked a different prize to raise money for the Republican Party.

The Pima County Republican Party had held gun raffles in the past, but it seems that in light of the shooting that happened on January 8, less than a year ago, maybe some sensitivity should be in order. It’s not just Democrats or anti-gun advocates that think the gun raffle is a bad idea. There is at least one Republican that advised against holding a gun raffle. James Kelley, chairman of the GOP legislative district that includes southern Tucson, decided not to stand with his fellow Republicans on this issue, stating that “post Jan 8, it’s bad messaging, and its insensitive.”

Is holding a gun raffle in an area still healing after a deadly shooting rampage a good idea?

Kelley Heckart

‘Timeless tales of romance, conflict & magic’

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/ Check out my long hair hotties!

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Three different women, one ancient curse…

http://kelleyheckart.com/winters_requiem.html

Gun rights and idiots don’t mix

This article in my local paper caught my attention: Ariz. lawmaker says pointing gun at reporter was inadvertent. This is the reason that some people are opposed to concealed weapons permits given to ordinary citizens.

According to the article, Republican Senator Lori Klein of Anthem (Phoenix) is taking heat for pointing her raspberry-pink semi-automatic pistol (when did a lethal weapon become a fashion accessory?) at a reporter while demonstrating its laser sight during a recent interview. And this is not the first time that Klein has make headlines in connection with her personal weapon. How many times does this woman have to act irresponsible with her weapon before her license is revoked? Will it be the time she ‘inadvertently’ injures or kills someone? What is really bothersome is that this woman is a lawmaker and should know better.

Subsequent online commentary generally said Klein ignored a basic tenet of gun safety: Don’t point a weapon at somebody unless you’re willing or intending to shoot.

Ms. Klein should not be allowed to carry a concealed weapon and there needs to be a better way to weed out the idiots that try to buy guns. A basic background check won’t reveal if the person is a moron. Maybe a multiple choice question like this would help: If someone asks you to take out your gun, what do you do? a. Take out the gun and point it at them, b. Tell them to F off, or c. Kindly tell them no.

This is another example of why everything we buy has to have a warning label telling people to either not put the object in their mouth or in their butt—because some idiot actually put that item in their mouth or butt. The problem with a gun is that, not only is the idiot in danger of harming him/herself, but the rest of the population is in danger too.

Natural selection hasn’t done a great job of thinning the herd of morons so we have to learn to live with them, but it makes me uneasy knowing that an idiot could be carrying a concealed weapon.

 

Kelley Heckart

‘Timeless tales of romance, conflict & magic’

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/ Check out my long hair hotties!

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Three different women, one ancient curse…