The politics of Sarah Palin’s baby, pt. II

            Now, here is a point whereat feminists will disagree:  It must be asked whether it is prudent for Palin to have accepted the vice presidency while facing the prospect of raising a disabled child. The issue is not being a working mother, but a parent of equal obligations to a Down syndrome child.

The politics of Sarah Palin’s baby, pt. I

Never so much as when the same crowd, with bemoans their elected officials for loss of jobs, eroding morality, and existential uncertainty, offers up their uncomprehending infants to be kissed by the same officials—and the politician complies—do I appreciate the acuteness of Machiavelli’s psychology.

The crime for which babies are inextricably enmeshed in our politics is nothing more than their birth. Always I endeavor not to mock, lament or execrate of the human condition, but find it difficult not to wish not to write this post on the politics of Sarah Palin’s baby. One cannot deny the depth or multifaceted-ness of that significance.

            A  brief background: April 18, 2008, during Palin’s term as governor of Alaska, gave birth to her second son, Trig Palin. Prenatal tests had revealed that the fetus had Down syndrome.

Pro-life groups have been quick to applaud Palin for her decision to bear the infant to term, though the governor’s choice was the actualization of the bare minimum demanded by their own absolutist conviction.

But more so than her birth are the conditions which engendered it, to which little attention has been paid. Palin became pregnant in office, but did not make the news public until her third trimester. She didn’t even tell her staff until the third trimester.

The release of the information was delayed until the last moment when it would have made itself undeniably evident. Only until she could not deny her pregnancy, which —especially considering the infant carried a higher probability of complications—essentially pertained to her health and physical ability to hold office.

Given the secrecy of the current administration, so widespread not all of it can be attributed to the expedience of secrecy, but the learned inability not to work in secrecy, we need a revolution of transparency. Glass-ceiling shatterer she may be, I do not see Palin striving for glassier government. 

Correction, 12: 37 9/1/08: Originally, Trig Palin was identified as Sarah Palin’s daughter; he is actually her son. I regret the error.  

A Sarah Palin reader; also, Yea round numbers!

Thanks from all of us to our loyal readership! The Word Warriors have published 300 posts since our launching on 23 January. Back then, many of our readers were hoping we would see a woman take a major party’s nomination for president. Now, while that eventuality has been deferred, we nevertheless have a woman running for vice president. Even if we, and many others, and not just those we agree with, find fault with her, so far they have appealed only to her lack of merit, criticizing her record in public office as they might any other male candidate.

Friday, I discussed Palin’s ties to the anti-abortion, anti-contraception Feminists for Life and hostility towards marriage equality. Below, I share some of the pieces I personally found to be most informative about McCain’s veep. Below the fold, I link them as a reference point for any hypothetical future discussion of Palin.

Pakistani senator defends live burial of women

 From Dawn, and English Pakistani news service:

Balochistan Senator Sardar Israrullah Zehri stunned the upper house on Friday when he defended the recent incident of burying alive three teenage girls and two women in his province, saying it was part of “our tribal custom.”

Senator Bibi Yasmin Shah of the PML-Q raised the issue citing a newspaper report that the girls, three of them aged between 16 and 18 years, had been buried alive a month ago for wishing to marry of their own will.

The barbaric incident took place in a remote village of Jafarabad district and a PPP minister and some other influential people were reported to have been involved. The report accused the provincial government of trying to hush up the issue…

Maulana Ghafoor Haideri of the JUI-F said there was no tradition of burying women alive in Baloch society because it was against Islam’s teachings.

Rape victim ticketed for speeding

From the Gazette:

Police in Colorado Springs are investigating a woman’s complaint that she was ignored by a motorcycle officer when she told him she was speeding to get help after being bound, beaten and raped by an acquaintance.

According to the 28-year-old, she was crying, bleeding from her swollen lip and clad in a T-shirt and underwear when she described the ordeal to officer Jon Gustafson during a July 8 traffic stop at Platte and Nevada avenues.

She said she told Gustafson that she was on her way to Pikes Peak Mental Health Center to seek help.

Without asking questions or requesting medical assistance, the woman said, Gustafson ticketed her for going 45 mph in a 25 mph zone and for failing to wear a seat belt.

She said that he told her: “The bad news is you have to go to court. Good luck.”

Police, who say they are barred from discussing internal investigations in detail, said their probe has been delayed because of a parallel investigation into the reported rape.

Gustafson did not return phone messages, and other attempts to reach him were unsuccessful. He remains on regular duty.

For your consideration: Sarah Palin

When one witnesses the success of a woman in a traditionally male power structure while flouting the concerns of mainstream feminism, they can almost understand that sophistry of “post-feminism.” So many Hillary Clinton supporters—and quite a few people who weren’t—found themselves ecstatic at the prospect of a female president. But, when contextualizing Clinton’s historic strides, virtually none referenced a parallel achievement across the pond in the prime ministry of Margaret Thatcher. Whether or not downplaying the success of women in traditionally antagonistic political traditions is entirely fair, I leave to the reader. For my purposes, I site the example to augment my prediction feminists will receive with equal chilliness John McCain’s by-the-platform conservative running-mate, former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin.

O-Fest rescheduled for Friday; Visit Empowerment!

I’m am a little proud to be scooping the MU Newsbriefs–My victory is twofold because you can’t delete this:

 Organization Fest has been rescheduled for FRIDAY AUGUST 29 from 11AM-2PM, on the Central Mall. Empowerment will be there with information regarding our meeting schedule for the year. If you cannot make it, we can refer you to Empowerment’s emailing list through this site, at thewordwarriors@gmail.com.

However, do, please, make an effort to stop by the Fest. We will be selling the OFFICIAL Empowerment t-shirt for $10 a piece. Meet Word Warrior contributors Dashaway and Bento IN PERSON!* Also, we might have CANDY! Also, we might have FREE CANDY! MAYBE! Come down and visit!

*The Word Warrior authors reserve the right to neither confirm nor deny their pseudonymous identities.

Correction 8/27/08 8:31 PM: The time for O-Fest was originally listed as 11AM-4PM. The actual time is 11AM-2PM. I apologize for the error.

Everything is image

From the blog What Sorts of People, I ran across this awesome post a while back about a BBC documentary called “Look but don’t touch” featuring British TV personality, Alesha Dixon.  In it, she speaks out against the unrealistic standard of beauty the media has created for women while attempting to find a magazine that will put her on the cover without any photoshopping.  I can’t seem to find a way to embed the video, but just click this to get to the movie.  Google video offers the full hour-long documentary, but even if you have just 2 minutes, I urge you to watch the beginning of the film.

Priest nixes nun pageant

From Reuters:

An Italian priest who had planned an online “pageant” for nuns has suspended the project, saying he was misinterpreted and had no intention of putting sisters on a beauty catwalk…

“It was interpreted as more of a physical thing. Now, no-one is saying that nuns can’t be beautiful, but I was thinking about something more complete,” he said.

He said his concept for the contest, in which nuns would vote for themselves on his blog, would include attributes such as their spirituality, social awareness, charity and other qualities.

Rungi wrote in his blog that his intention was to show “the interior beauty” of a nun and the work she does for the Church and for society, mostly in education and health care.

“We have to draw more attention to the world of nuns, who are often not sufficiently appreciated by society,” he wrote.

Open thread: Summer reading final call

Having already been assigned a solid couple of hours of reading, it is apparent I will have to scale back my personalized curriculum until the holidays.

But, I’ve still to fully reflect on summer’s reading. My own list of “accomplishments” is below the fold (as if anyone is interested). Subjective remarks: Satisfactory volume, but wanting in cohesiveness of author, movements, subject matter or even themes.

But what did you all read? Do tell; I’m curious as to how much crossover there might be. Did you stick mostly to your planned readings? Are you disappointed, impressed, or indifferent to your accomplishments?