Wendy Davis sends out letter addressing recent attacks.

Courtesy of Wendy Davis for Governor:  

Dear Friend, 

As our campaign has gained momentum, our opponents have gotten more and more desperate. But now they’ve stooped to a new low by attacking my family, my education, and my personal story – playing politics with the journey that has been my life. 

Mine is a story about a teenage single mother who struggled to keep her young family afloat. It’s a story about a young woman who was given a precious opportunity to work her way up in the world. It’s a story about resiliency, and sacrifice, and perseverance. 

And you’re damn right it’s a true story. 

Throughout this campaign, I’ve shared that story – not because it’s unique, but because it isn’t. 

The story of my life is also the story of millions of single mothers who feel alone in the world, millions of young dreamers searching for their chance to become something more than what they were born into, millions of families all across Texas who would sacrifice everything to give their children a better future. 

It’s those stories – your stories – that drive my campaign. But Greg Abbott and his allies don’t want to hear them. They don’t have anything to offer Texans who find themselves in the same difficult situation I was in when I was young. They would slam the doors I walked through and pull up the ladders I was lucky to be able to climb. 

And now, instead of offering real ideas to improve your life, they’re attacking mine. 

It won’t work. The only thing Greg Abbott and his allies have proved with these desperate attacks is that they don’t understand what it means to live a life like mine – a life like that of so many people all across our state. 

They don’t know me – and, what’s more important, they don’t know you. 

I’m not surprised that the Abbott campaign would resort to attacking the story of a single mother who worked hard to get ahead. 

And I’m not afraid of their false attacks – I developed thick skin long before anyone knew my name. 

What I am is deeply proud of the life I’ve built and the daughters I’ve raised – and deeply grateful to the many, many people who have shared their stories and offered their support as I’ve traveled our state. 

No false attack can take away my story. And no sleazy political trick will stop me from giving voice to yours. 

Your stories are why I’m running for Governor. And together, I know we’ll make sure that the Texas we leave to our children is a place where every young mother can build a better life for her child. . . where every family can work their way up the economic ladder. . . where every Texan can achieve their dreams and live out their own success story. 

Wendy

Okay that got pretty patently political toward the end there, and I think it is smart to talk about how similar HER story is to the story of many young women who have struggled to raise their families through difficult times.

I mean if there were ever a universal story it would be that one.

I have to say that I really think this is a great opportunity to Texas to knock the cow shit off their boots and amble on over to the 21st century.

Just think they now have the opportunity to step away from the gun toting, shit kicking, image of a Rick Perry, to the improving education, improving women's health choices, and improving the overall reputation of Texas image of Wendy Davis.

I have said it before, and I can't believe I am saying it again, but I am jealous of the Lone Star state.

And believe me that NEVER happens.

First post in today's "War on Women Thursday." Let's start with Christian hypocrisy shall we?

Courtesy of the ACLU: 

Today, we filed suit in federal court on behalf of Jennifer Maudlin, a single mother who was fired when her employer learned that she was pregnant. Jennifer's employer – a religiously-affiliated community organization called Inside Out – says that it fired Jennifer for violating its unwritten rule against non-marital sex. 

What happened to Jennifer amounts to discrimination based on pregnancy status and gender. Why? Because Inside Out learned about its workers' sexual lives by looking at its women workers' bellies. In fact, Jennifer and other women workers who became pregnant had to hide their bellies for as long as possible because they were terrified of being found out and fired. Unmarried men who had sex, and even those who became fathers, had nothing to fear, because – of course – their bellies wouldn't give them away. In Jennifer's workplace, pregnancy became a "scarlet letter," marking unmarried employees for termination. 

The treatment of women workers at Inside Out also subjects women workers to mistreatment based on sex stereotypes. When a person can be thrown out of work because she decides to – or must – take on motherhood alone, what are we as a society saying about her? That she's unworthy of any further association with her coworkers? That she's unfit to participate in economic life? That she doesn't deserve to be able to eat, or pay rent, or buy gas? 

Add to that the effects of such discrimination on the children. At least half of children growing up in the U.S. today will spend some if not all of their childhoods in a single-parent family. Single parent families have the highest poverty rate in the country, and the highest rate of lacking health insurance – which in the U.S. is usually provided by an employer. We'd be kidding ourselves to think that employment discrimination against single mothers leaves kids unharmed.

So let's get this straight. 

These are the same people who stand on street corners waving pictures of shredded fetuses and attempting to shame every woman walking into a family planning clinic by screaming "Murder" at them. And yet when that young lady is an employee and they feel her pregnancy reflect poorly on their "holier than thou" image, they have no qualms about saying "Pack your shit slut, you are out of here!"

Gotta love those Christian values.

If they were really Pro-Life they would do everything they could to help their female employees get whatever services they would to make sure the baby is born healthy and that he or she is well cared for after they were born.

You know like any caring human being who was not being directed by ancient superstitions would do.

Update on the Bristol Palin/Melissa Rivers reality show.

"Yeah I despise you too, but our girls need jobs"

Since there has been some speculation about the reality show that Bristol and Melissa are filming I thought I would give you all that I know so far.

I DO have somebody who is in the know about this and from what I have heard this is not a "wife swap" show, but instead a show about single mothers that, as far as I know, has not yet been given a title.

When I first started to hear about this I was, I have to admit, a little skeptical. But as time has gone on I have heard from a number of sources that Melissa and Bristol have been spotted together in Alaska and in LA.

In fact Melissa even tweeted that she was in Alaska back on May 4th.

I'm in Alaska! instagram.com/p/Y5SQmmDvcP/
— Melissa Rivers (@MelRivers) May 4, 2013

The fact that the attached picture is from the Best Western right by Lake Lucille, makes me think that the show is a pretty safe assumption at this time.

Now given the benefit of the doubt to my source, whose initial reports seem to have been confirmed, I have also been told that neither Bristol, nor her control freak mother, have any say over the final editing of the show.

Which is kind of interesting, and potentially very entertaining, considering what Joan Rivers has said about BOTH Palin and her incredibly untalented offspring: 

Joan and daughter Melissa Rivers appeared on an episode of “Joy Behar” that aired Wednesday evening to promote their new show, “Joan and Melissa” and explain that Joan had recently been canceled from an appearance on “Fox and Friends” for saying negative things about Fox contributor Palin. 

“I guess…my mom made a comment like hi, I don’t think Sarah Palin is very smart,” Melissa Rivers said. “Apparently we’re…uninvited to do ‘Fox and Friends.’” 

“Well everyone says that,” Behar said. “Even Newt Gingrich is practically saying that.” 

“[Palin's] a Nazi, I don’t know,” Rivers said. 

Rivers added that Bristol, who participated in “Dancing with the Stars” last season, is “stupid,” echoing her recent claim that Sarah is “stupid and a threat.” 

“I voted for her stupid daughter, I should have, who couldn’t dance and I felt sorry for her,” Rivers said. “I should have voted for David Hasselhoff.” 

Oh yeah, THIS particular reality show might just be worth watching. "Might" be I said.

Mitt Romney's Mormon church baptized President Obama's mother back in 2008. WTF?

Courtesy of Addicting Info:

President Barack Obama’s mother was posthumously baptized by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on June 4, 2008. That’s the day after Obama won enough delegates to get the Democratic nomination. Graphic below of the LDS information regarding her:

She was born Stanley Ann Dunham, and died in 1995 at the age of fifty-two of cancer. Throughout her life and after her death, she has been described as an atheist, agnostic, or secular humanist. Above all, she was a self-proclaimed spiritual, yet remained skeptical on religions as a whole. 

Okay look, as you all know I tend not to differentiate one superstitious belief, and set of bizarre ritualistic behaviors, from another, but THIS has changed my mind.

Who in the fuck, does something like this?  Who has so little respect for an individual's personal belief, or lack thereof, to take it upon themselves to baptize them into THEIR religious faith?

I know it has no real effect on Ms. Dunham, and I know that it is simply a ridiculous ritual that speaks to a belief by the Mormon church that if they don't do this these unbaptized people will not be allowed into their heaven, but it is STILL an incredibly invasive, and unbelievably creepy, thing to do to someone's loved one.

If I were President Obama THIS would make me not only want to beat Mitt Romney in the election, but crush him like a bug under my fucking heel!

Seriously, once again, who DOES something like this? And what does THAT say about how they view the rights of the rest of us?

Gabby Douglas is a star!

Yesterday Gabby Douglas won the all around gymnastics title.

I am not even going to go into the fact that she is the first African American to do so since President Obama has demonstrated that NOTHING is restricted by one's race these days.  However I do want to say that what she did is an amazing achievement, and that coming from a single parent home, it is just that much MORE impressive.

NOBODY who has not parented a child gymnast, or been one themselves, can ever imagine how difficult their lives can be, or the kind of commitment it takes to reach even the competition level, much less an Olympic level in this sport.

As I am sure I have shared in the past I was a gymnastics coach for four and a half years and I can tell you first hand that what these young ladies, and young men, ask of their bodies on a daily basis is just this side of superhuman.

In my opinion pound for pound gymnasts are the most carefully conditioned and powerful athletes on the planet. I have trained in a number of disciplines including wrestling, football, baseball, swimming, power lifting, bodybuilding, and martial arts, and I can tell you that the MOST strenuous training I ever endured was in a little room above the gymnasium next to Dimond High's weight room where I learned gymnastics. (I STILL have injuries left over from those days.)

So all I can say is congratulations Gabby! You deserve EVERY accolade and honor you are about to receive.

P.S. I don't want to appear sexist so I also want to congratulate Danell Leyva's bronze medal victory. I am a HUGE fan of men's gymnastics but have missed almost all of it due to NBC's bizarre and spotty coverage.