Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Palestine aktualisieren

Hinweis: Ich war nicht in der Lage, um die Fotos und einige der Links in der deutschen Version dieser Übertragung, so überprüfen Sie bitte die englischsprachige Version für diejenigen, wenn Sie dies wünschen.
Wednesday, 22. August 2012All You Need Über Palästina wissen
Dies ist für diejenigen von euch, die vergeblich nach echten Informationen über das, was Israel den Palästinensern antun ausgesehen haben. Stellen Sie sich vor - wir sind besorgt, oder soll besorgt, um den Schutz dieser Schläger aus dem Iran werden. Dies wäre ein guter ein zu sparen, da die Links alle Informationen, die nicht auf unserer corporate media führen wird. Unsere Medien sind zu beschäftigt hochgespielt die Terroristen ("Freiheitskämpfer") versucht, eine legitime Regierung in Syrien zu stürzen, und wir sind zu sehr damit beschäftigt, den Iran zu verunglimpfen und zu beschwichtigen diese Schläger in Israel. Wie auch immer, hier ist die Information:



> The Only Democracy? »Diskriminierung auf dem Boden Reports» Militär und Siedler Vandalismus eskaliert als Court Battle over südlich von Hebron Hills heizt> Militär und Siedler Vandalismus eskaliert als Court Battle over südlich von Hebron Hills heizt> 21. August 2012 | Schreibe einen Kommentar> Wir sind weiterhin zu folgen, berichten und unterstützt den Kampf des palästinensischen Bewohner der südlichsten Region der Westbank zu leben auf dem Land ihrer Vorfahren, die sie rechtlich eigenständig weiter.> Man sollte meinen, dass in einer aufgeklärten Gesellschaft wie eine einfache Anfrage zweifelsfrei gewährleistet wäre. Leider ist das Gegenteil der Fall. Für eine ganze Generation, unterstützt das Besatzungsregime, und von den Siedlern das Regime in der Region eingeführt wurde angestachelt, hat versucht, ein paar tausend einheimischen Bewohnern zu entwurzeln. Die Mechanismen von militärischen Edikte, bad-faith legalistischen Argumenten vor Gericht, Druck auf den Boden, und nackte Gewalt und Vandalismus reichten.> Auf dem Hof ​​vor, haben die Bewohner der vergangenen Woche erreicht, was scheint wie ein kleiner Sieg. Das Besatzungsregime jetzt darauf, dass "nur" 8 Massafer-Yatta Dörfer evakuiert und zerstört werden, anstelle der 12, dass die ursprüngliche 1999 Edikt Teil eines IDF "Schießplatz" erklärte. Laut Anwälten, die die Bewohner darstellen, während der Kampf vor Gericht das Regime bot diese Reduktion von 12 bis 8 im Austausch zum Stoppen des Kampfes. Jetzt hat das Regime war (anscheinend) dazu gezwungen im Austausch für nichts. Das Regime wahrscheinlich sieht jetzt, dass seine fadenscheinigen - nein, unverschämt - Argumente, dass es eine "Schießplatz" über eine ganze Strecke von besiedeltes Land erklären können und so tun die Menschen dort nie existiert haben, hat kaum eine Chance auf den Gewinn des Tages, auch in Die schiefen Spielfeld eigenen Gerichte Israels. Daher ist es vielleicht versucht, mehr "rational" und "angemessen" durch den Ausschluss von 4 Dörfer von der Zählung angezeigt. Der High Court hat durch Löschen des ursprünglichen 12-Dorf Petition und einladend Kläger, ein bereinigtes ein für die 8 Dörfer in einigen Monaten erneut, ohne Auswirkungen auf ihre Petition Rechte reagiert.> Dieser Sieg bemerkt, die IDF noch steuert die Region sehr eng und hat sich weiter zu versuchen und füge Elend und Einschüchterung auf Bewohner, in der Hoffnung, dass sie aus eigenem Antrieb verlassen. In diesem Sommer Kampagne begonnen hat, wie hier berichtet, mit herrlichem Evakuierung und Abbrucharbeiten Dekrete, in offensichtliche Verletzung der anhängigen Gerichtsverfahren. Jetzt, während der ersten Woche des August die IDF überfielen zwei der vier Dörfer von deren Evakuierung Edikt entfernt! Dann, am 7. August ist überfielen Jinba Dorfes, die zu den acht noch im Gerichtsverfahren enthalten ist. Bilder dieser "heroischen" Einsatz militärischer Macht und Ressourcen gegen wehrlose Zivilisten, sind unten.>> Die Bilder wurden in Jinba durch Btselem Aktivisten aufgenommen und an uns übermittelt Guy Butavia. Die Razzien wurden umgesetzt mit Hubschraubern, die und landete nahm im Dorf 6 mal.>> Die Höhlenbewohner "Weiler Jinba ist einer der größten und ältesten dieser Art der Lokalität in der Höhle Region des Südens Hebron Hills \ Massafer Yatta Region. Dies ist Sommer waren viele Kinder, die normalerweise in Yatta bleiben während des Schuljahres (weil keine adäquate Schule besteht in der Höhlenbewohner Region) im Dorf. Die Bewohner Schafe, wie üblich, waren auch rund, Empfangen des Militärs Aufmerksamkeit sowie:>> Einschüchterung allein war nicht genug für die tapferen Soldaten, so dass sie auch warf den Inhalt einiger Schränke und verschüttet große Krüge Milch und Sahne.>> Amira Hass berichtet diese Überfall auf Haaretz, aber anscheinend Zeitung Deutsch Spiegel versucht nun erneut, um eine Prämie für das Lesen der nur etwas unabhängige israelische Mainstream Quelle für Nachrichten auf dem Beruf zu berechnen.> Dann, am 16. August, der Region Siedlern wieder in. Wie Bedienung Dove Berichte aufgeschlagen:>> Am Nachmittag des 16. August einige Palästinenser entdeckt, dass ein Olivenhain in Humra Tal wurde vor kurzem in der Nacht zerstört, nach einem Palästinenser. Dreißig Olivenbäume wurden gebrochen oder schwer beschädigt. Der Olivenhain gehört zu einer palästinensischen Familie, die in Yatta, ein palästinensischer Stadt in der Nähe At-Tuwani lebt. Der Bereich, in dem die Olivenbäume wurden geschnitten wird vor Havat Ma'on, ein illegaler Außenposten befindet.> Die Höhe der palästinensischen Bäumen rissen und beschädigt [in der Region] Seit Januar 2012 steigt auf 97: die höchste Anzahl in Humra Tal. Der Olivenhain Zerstörung stellt mehrere Probleme des Lebensunterhalts für die Palästinenser. Betrieb Dove hat eine internationale Präsenz in At-Tuwani und South Hebron Hills seit 2004 gepflegt.>>> Wieder einmal die Siedler und die militärische Besetzung in Aktion beweisen, dass sie zwei Arme des gleichen Tieres sind: das Tier nationalistischer Vorherrschaft, Enteignung und Gewalt. Darüber hinaus in den letzten paar Tagen hat das Militär privaten palästinensische Fahrzeuge in der Region beschlagnahmt, unter dem Vorwand der "unautorisiertes Fahren in einem Schießstand." Der Beruf macht einen Witz des Konzepts "issue anhängigen gerichtlichen Entscheidung", und nutzt seine Macht auf dem Boden, um sie einzuschüchtern und gewaltsam fahren die Menschen von ihrem Land.> Bisher haben die Bewohner, von besorgten Bürgern Israels und der ganzen Welt unterstützt, blieb entschlossen, sich für ihre Rechte.> Weitere Bilder von den beiden Vandalismus Vorfällen finden Sie unten (Kredit für beide Sätze geht an Guy Butavia).> (Gecrosspostet aus den Dörfern Gruppe Blog, wo noch ein paar Bilder gesehen werden können)>> Related posts:>> Dörfer Gruppe: South Hebron Hills aktualisieren> Wort und Bild Tagebuch: South Hebron Hills Weekly Visit, 5. April 2012> Another Round israelische Militär Vandalismus in Umm-Al-Kheir>> By Assaf Oron Geschrieben> Assaf Oron arbeitet als Statistiker und Mondlicht (freiwillig) als Menschenrechts-Aktivist und Blogger. Er kam in Seattle aus Israel im Jahr 2002 für ein Studium, und jetzt wird mit der lokalen Grau, Feuchtigkeit und uber-Höflichkeit Kleben, beim Plotten seine glorreiche Rückkehr in das Land des ewigen Sonnenscheins und Grobheit. Inzwischen versucht er, jedem, der es hören interessiert zu erklären, was die Beschäftigung ist und warum es muss jetzt beendet werden, nicht später. Assaf ist Webmaster für die israelische Menschenrechtsorganisation "Villages Group"> Besuch Assaf Oron Website> Filed under: Diskriminierung auf dem Boden Reports · Tags: Apartheid, Indigenous Rights, Israel, Militär Beruf, Palästina, Villages Gruppe> Kommentare sind geschlossen.> Get TheOnlyDemocracy? per E-Mail> Geben Sie Ihre E-Mail>>> Vorschau | by FeedBlitz Powered> Neueste Beiträge>> Militär und Siedler Vandalismus eskaliert als Court Battle over südlich von Hebron Hills heizt> A New Bio-Gas-System in den palästinensischen Susya> Susya> My Home ist alles: das Volk Susiya in der Welt sprechen, und andere Updates> Dringende Warnung an Susya Dorf vor der Zerstörung retten>> Bilder aus ActiveStills> Autoren>> Jesse Bacon (RSS)> Assaf Oron (RSS)> The Only Democracy? (RSS)> Carol Sanders (RSS)> Rebecca Vilkomerson (RSS)>> Nach Autoren Widget Powered> Blogroll>> Active Stills> Coteret> Indymedia Israel> Israel Verweigerer> Israelische Besatzung Archiv> Jewish Voice for Peace> Mondoweiss> MuzzleWatch> Beruf Magazin> Palestine Monitor> Palestine Video> Promised Land> Shalom Rav> Die Magnes zionistischen> Tikkun Olam> Wer profitiert?>> Interaktive Video>> "Sie haben die Wahl! Israelischen Anti-Militaristen Speak "Vier Israelis Dorothy Naor, Sergeiy Sander und Eli Fabrikant und Ofer Golani-sprechen über ihre persönlichen Geschichten, politischen Ansichten und Aktivismus in 132 Kurzfilme.>> Organisationen>> Anarchisten gegen die Mauer> Association for Civil Rights in Israel> B'Tselem> Coalition of Women for Peace> Neues Profil> Popular Struggle Coordination Committee> Rabbis for Human Rights> Sheikh Jarrah> Ta'ayush> The Villages Gruppe> Yesh Din> Zochrot - Erinnerung>> Feedback> Wollen Sie zu einem unserer Beiträge reagieren? Wir laden Sie ein, uns einen nachdenklichen E-Mail zu, was Ihnen gefällt oder nicht gefällt, wir werden die besten Noten auf unserer Website bieten.> Wir werden dieses System anstelle von Kommentaren zu versuchen. Wir denken, es wird mehr auf die Qualität der Website hinzufügen und wird uns verbringen mehr Zeit Entsendung Nachrichten Geschichten. Schreiben Sie uns an tod@jewishvoiceforpeace.org.> Kategorien>> Diskriminierung> Top> Human Rights Aktivisten im Fadenkreuz> On The Ground Reports> Talkback> Uncategorized> Siege für Demokratie>> Mit den meisten Kommentaren>> Israelische Besatzung baut Villen für Carmel Siedler, Zerstört die Hütte ihrer Witwe Nachbar. Sie können etwas dagegen tun.> Juliano Mer-Khamis, in seinen eigenen Worten> Bibi, Obama und Israels A-Historical View of Itself> Another Round israelische Militär Vandalismus in Umm-Al-Kheir> People Are Über BDS Gespräch> Über das Secret Empire, die beschlossen haben Minority Dissent in Israel zu kriminalisieren hat>> Aktuelle Artikel>> Militär und Siedler Vandalismus eskaliert als Court Battle over südlich von Hebron Hills heizt> A New Bio-Gas-System in den palästinensischen Susya> Susya> My Home ist alles: das Volk Susiya in der Welt sprechen, und andere Updates> Dringende Warnung an Susya Dorf vor der Zerstörung retten> "Zivilverwaltung" und Siedler Join Forces auf palästinensische Susya Destroy. Hat das Gericht Wink und Nod?>> Tag Cloud> Abdallah Abu Rahma Ameer Makhoul BDS Beduinen Benjamin Netanyahu Bi'lin Kinder Demokratie Detentions Ostjerusalem Education Empowerment Gaza Gaza Freedom Flotilla Gisha Hebron Human Rights Indigenous Rights International Demokratie-Aktivisten Israel israelischen Armee israelischen Knesset israelischen Supreme Court Jewish Voice for Peace Juliano Mer-Khamis Musik Nabi Saleh New Profile Ni'lin Besetzung Palästina palästinensischen Bürger Israels Proteste gegen die Mauer Settlements Siedler Sheikh Jarrah Siege Silwan Solidarität südlich von Hebron Hills Stop The Wall nicht anerkannten Dörfern Video Villages Gruppe Westufer> Cover WP Theme> © 2012 die einzige Demokratie?
Verfasst von Zar Donic am 02.16 UhrLabels: Palestine aktualisieren
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All You Need to Know About Palestine


This is for those of you who have looked in vain for real information about what Israel is doing to the Palestinians.  Imagine -- we are worried, or supposed to be worried, about protecting these thugs from Iran.  This would be a good one to save as the links all lead to information not available on our corporate media.  Our media is too busy hyping the terrorists ("freedom fighters") trying to overthrow a legitimate government in Syria and we are too busy trying to vilify Iran and placate these thugs in Israel.  Anyway, here is the information:




The Only Democracy? » Discrimination, On The Ground Reports » Military and Settler Vandalism Escalates as Court Battle over South Hebron Hills Heats Up

Military and Settler Vandalism Escalates as Court Battle over South Hebron Hills Heats Up

August 21st, 2012 | Add a Comment
We continue to follow, report and support the struggle of the Palestinian residents of the West Bank’s southernmost region, to continue living on their ancestral lands which they legally own.
One would think that in an enlightened society such a simple request would be guaranteed beyond doubt. Unfortunately, the opposite is true. For an entire generation, the Occupation regime, aided and egged on by the settlers that regime has introduced into the region, has been trying to uproot a few thousand indigenous residents. The mechanisms have ranged from military edicts, bad-faith legalistic arguments in court, pressure on the ground, and naked violence and vandalism.
On the court front, residents have last week achieved what seems like a minor victory. The Occupation regime now insists that “only” 8 Massafer-Yatta villages be evacuated and destroyed, instead of the 12 that the original 1999 edict declared to be part of an IDF “firing range”. According to lawyers who represent the residents, during the court battle the regime offered this reduction from 12 to 8 in exchange for stopping the struggle. Now the regime has been (apparently) forced to do so in exchange for nothing. The regime probably sees now that its flimsy – no, outrageous – arguments that it can declare a “firing range” over an entire stretch of populated land and pretend the people there have never existed, has very little chance of winning the day, even in the skewed playing field of Israel’s own courts. Therefore, it perhaps tries to appear more “rational” and “reasonable” by excluding 4 villages from the count. The High Court has responded by erasing the original 12-village petition, and inviting plaintiffs to resubmit an adjusted one for the 8 villages within several months, without any impact on their petition rights.
That victory noted, the IDF still controls the region very tightly, and has continued to try and inflict misery and intimidation upon residents, in the hope that they leave of their own accord. This summer’s campaign has started, as reported here, with sweeping evacuation and demolition decrees, in apparent violation of the pending court case. Now, during the first week of August the IDF raided two of the 4 villages removed from its evacuation edict! Then, on August 7 it raided Jinba village, which is among the 8 still included in the court case. Images of this “heroic” use of military might and resources against defenseless civilians, are below.

The pictures were taken in Jinba by Btselem activists, and transmitted to us by Guy Butavia. The raids were implemented using helicopters, which landed and took off in the village 6 times.

The cave dwellers’ hamlet of Jinba is one of the largest and oldest of this type of locality in the cave region of the South Hebron Hills\Massafer Yatta region. This being summer, many children who normally stay in Yatta during the school year (because no adequate secondary school exists in the cave-dwelling region) were in the village. The residents’ sheep, as usual, were also around, receiving the military’s attention as well:

Intimidation alone was not enough for the brave soldiers, so they also tossed out the contents of some closets, and spilled large jugs of milk and cream.

Amira Hass reported this raid on Haaretz, but apparently that newspaper’s English mirror is now attempting again to charge a premium for reading the only somewhat-independent mainstream Israeli source for news on the Occupation.
Then, on August 16, the region’s settlers once again pitched in. As Operation Dove reports:

In the afternoon of August 16th some Palestinians discovered that an olive grove situated in Humra valley had been recently destroyed during the night, according to a Palestinian. Thirty olive trees were broken or severely damaged. The olive grove belongs to a Palestinian family that lives in Yatta, a Palestinian town close to At-Tuwani. The area in which the olives trees were cut is located in front of Havat Ma’on, an illegal outpost.
The amount of Palestinian trees tore down and damaged [in the region] since January 2012 rises to 97: a largest number is located in Humra valley. The olive grove’s destruction represents several problems of subsistence for Palestinians. Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.

Once again, the settlers and the military Occupation prove in action that they are two arms of the same beast: the beast of nationalist supremacy, dispossession and violence. In addition, over the past few days the military has confiscated private Palestinian vehicles in the region, under the pretext of “unauthorized driving inside a firing range.” The Occupation makes a joke of the concept “issue pending court decision”, and uses its power on the ground to intimidate and forcibly drive people off their land.
So far, the residents, aided by concerned citizens of Israel and around the world, have remained determined to stand up for their rights.
More images from the two vandalism incidents can be found below (credit for both sets goes to Guy Butavia).
(Crossposted from the Villages Group blog, where a few more images can be seen)

Related posts:
  1. Villages Group: South Hebron Hills Update
  2. Word and Picture Diary: South Hebron Hills Weekly Visit, April 5 2012
  3. Another Round of Israeli Military Vandalism at Umm-Al-Kheir

Written by

Assaf Oron works as a statistician and moonlights (voluntarily) as a human-rights activist and blogger. He arrived in Seattle from Israel in 2002 for studies, and for now is sticking with the local greyness, dampness and uber-politeness, while plotting his glorious repatriation to the land of eternal sunshine and rudeness. Meanwhile, he tries to explain to anyone who cares to listen, what the Occupation is and why it must be ended now, not later. Assaf is webmaster for the Israeli human rights organization "Villages Group"
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occupy Rape!


THE ABSURD TIMES




WARNING: THIS IS A REDUCTO AB ABSURDUM:

    I only mention this because I sent a note to one of you recently making fun of right-wing Republican thought.  In fact, it was an Archie Bunker type thing.  I should also point out, however, that Adkins' remarks reflect to the letter the platform of the Republican Party, the party that once, in the 50s, had the ERA in the platform (no more, of course).  Adkins' fault lie in his not using the hypocrisy of the sacredness of human life as a facade to cover up his cro-magnum attitudes.  Naturally, those who consider themselves pro-life are still in favor of the death penalty (even if the convict is innocent).

    Yeah -- as I mentioned elsewhere:  Don't you know that women have this secret system of bodily fluids that keep them from being pregnant in case of rape?  Well, women don't want us to know about that.  It's sort of like when a woman says "I'm sorry, it was that time of the month." But when you ask in another coversation "Is it that time of the month aggain?" they get angry.  Shhh, --  don't let the secret out.  Even McCaskill, his opponent says he should run.  Of course, she's a Democrat, but she is still a woman and doesn't want these secrets about her bodily fluids to get out.  Down with flouride!

    Here's an interview that might straighten this whole thing out:


TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2012

Todd Akin’s "Legitimate Rape" Comment Sheds Light on Paul Ryan’s Extreme Stance on Abortion

Republicans are mounting increasing pressure on Missouri Rep. Todd Akin to end his bid to unseat Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill after he claimed that women’s bodies can prevent pregnancies in cases of what he called "legitimate rape," a comment he later apologized for. The controversy is spilling in the presidential race due to Akin’s close ties to Mitt Romney’s running mate, Paul Ryan. In 2011, Ryan and Akin co-sponsored the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which attempted to redefine rape by introducing the term "forcible rape." We speak to Michelle Goldberg, senior writer for Newsweek/The Daily Beast. Her latest article is titled "Todd Akin’s Rape Comment Was Bad, but His Abortion Views Are Much Worse." [includes rush transcript]

FILED UNDER  Election 2012, Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney, Women’s Health, Republican, Michelle Goldberg
GUEST:

Michelle Goldberg, senior writer for Newsweek/The Daily Beast and author of Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism and The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power, and the Future of the World. Her latest article is called "Todd Akin’s Rape Comment Was Bad, but His Abortion Views Are Much Worse."

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Transcript

AMY GOODMAN: Republicans are mounting increasing pressure on Missouri Congressmember Todd Akin to end his bid to unseat Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill after he claimed women’s bodies can prevent pregnancies in cases of what he called "legitimate rape." Republicans had been hoping an Akin victory could help the party regain control of the Senate. Akin is a six-term Congress member with Tea Party backing. The controversy began Sunday when a local TV reporter asked Akin about his opposition to abortion in all cases.

CHARLES JACO: What about in the case of rape? Should it be legal or not?

REP. TODD AKIN: Well, you know, people always want to try and make that as one of those things: "Well, how do you—how do you slice this particularly tough sort of ethical question?" It seems to me, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something. You know, I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.

AMY GOODMAN: After the interview aired, Todd Akin issued a statement saying he, quote, "misspoke in this interview and it does not reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year," unquote. Politico revealed this morning that Akin has also recorded a TV ad to apologize for his comments.

REP. TODD AKIN: I’m Todd Akin, and I approve this message. Rape is an evil act. I used the wrong words in the wrong way, and for that I apologize. As the father of two daughters, I want tough justice for predators. I have a compassionate heart for the victims of sexual assault, and I pray for them. The fact is, rape can lead to pregnancy. The truth is, rape has many victims. The mistake I made was in the words I said, not in the heart I hold. I ask for your forgiveness.

AMY GOODMAN: Despite Todd Akin’s apology, the Republican establishment has unleashed a campaign to drive Akin out of the race. The National Republican Senatorial Committee declared it would withdraw support for Akin, as did the Republican advocacy group CrossroadsGPS. Under Missouri law, candidates can withdraw 11 weeks before Election Day. That deadline is 5:00 p.m. today Missouri time.

While presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has criticized Akin’s remarks, questions have been raised about ties between Akin and vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan. In 2011, Ryan and Akin co-sponsored the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.

On Monday, President Barack Obama addressed the controversy during a surprise briefing at the White House.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Rape is rape. And the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we’re talking about doesn’t make sense to the American people and certainly doesn’t make sense to me. So, what I think these comments do underscore is why we shouldn’t have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making healthcare decisions on behalf of women.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, for more, we’re joined by Michelle Goldberg, senior writer for Newsweek/The Daily Beast. Her latest piece is titled "Todd Akin’s Rape Comment Was Bad, but His Abortion Views Are Much Worse." She’s also author of Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, as well as The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power, and the Future of the World.

Michelle Goldberg, welcome back to Democracy Now!

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: Hey, thanks for having me.

AMY GOODMAN: It’s good to have you with us. So let’s go through everything Akin said, what his views are, and let’s go beyond Sunday, but we’ll start there.

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: OK. So, what Akin said, obviously, that was controversial and that differs from the vast majority of his Republican colleagues is only his views about the kind of magic powers of the uterus to activate in cases of rape and somehow kill sperm, and this is a canard that has kind of floated around the far right. The reason that it’s so toxic is because it suggests—it’s because it’s not just because of his view that women should be forced to carry pregnancies to term, even if they’re the result of rape, but because he’s essentially arguing that women who have been impregnated by rape—and, you know, according to the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, that’s about 32,000 women in America a year—that he’s suggesting that they weren’t really raped or that, you know, some of the other people who’ve kind of peddled this junk science says, "Well, you know, the juices don’t flow if she’s raped," the implication being that if she gets pregnant, it’s because she somehow enjoyed it, or, you know, there’s also an old, medieval superstition about how a woman can’t conceive unless she has—unless she has an orgasm, which seems to feed into some of this. So that’s the part that’s toxic, I think, across the board for even anti-abortion Republicans.

But what there’s no difference between, there’s no difference between Akin’s views on abortion—on abortion policy and on abortion law and that of Ryan and many other Republicans, including many of the Republican headliners at the RNC next week. And I think that one of the reasons there’s such a huge push to get him out of the race is because that’s not particularly something that the Republican Party wants to highlight right now.

AMY GOODMAN: Let’s talk about Todd Akin and the man who was charged to call him and tell him to get out of the race, the presumptive vice-presidential Republican nominee, Paul Ryan.

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: Right. So, Paul Ryan, like Todd Akin, does not believe that there should be any exceptions to a total abortion ban for cases of rape and incest. He, in the past, has only supported exceptions that would save a mother’s life, not save a mother’s health, you know, and again. So he believes and has always believed and has sponsored legislation to the effect that a woman who gets pregnant through rape should be forced by the government to carry that baby to term.

They’ve collaborated on several pieces of legislation. They co-sponsored the—they co-sponsored what was basically a federal personhood amendment, which would give the full rights of an American citizen to a fertilized egg and which a lot of legal scholars say would not only outlaw all forms of abortion but would outlaw the morning-after pill, would outlaw some forms of birth control, would outlaw—would outlaw common forms of in vitro fertilization. They also both co-sponsored the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which you explained before. And there was a lot of provisions in the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, or H.R. 3. One of the interesting provisions was that they tried to—right now, there’s an—federal law bans federal funding for abortion for low-income women and government employees and military servicemembers. They—well, actually, this is interesting, because Akin and Ryan have also both opposed legislation that would allow funding for abortions for female servicemembers who have been raped. And as you know, you know, rape in the military is at kind of epidemic levels. But federal law right now bans federal funding for abortion in cases of rape and incest. They tried to change that to federal funding bans abortion except in cases of, quote-unquote, "forcible rape." That, if you heard Todd Akin speaking yesterday on Mike Huckabee’s show, he said that by "legitimate rape" he meant to say "forcible rape."

AMY GOODMAN: Actually, let’s go right to Huckabee’s show.

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: OK.

AMY GOODMAN: Let’s go to that comment of Congressman Akin.

REP. TODD AKIN: I’ve really made a couple of serious mistakes here that were just wrong, and I need to apologize for those. First, I might say that I’ve always been committed to pro-life, and it was because I didn’t want to harm the most vulnerable. But likewise, I care deeply, you know, for the victims of people who have been raped, and they’re equally vulnerable. And a rape is equally tragic. And I made that statement in error. Let me be clear: rape is never legitimate. It’s an evil act that’s committed by violent predators. I used the wrong words in the wrong way. What I said was ill-conceived, and it was wrong. And for that, I apologize.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Todd Akin on the former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee’s radio show.

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: Right. Mike Huckabee, another one who’s speaking at the Republican National Convention, who also believes that rape—that abortion should be banned in cases of rape and incest.

But, so here’s why this phrase "forcible rape" is interesting. In 1999, a guy named John Willke, who’s the founder of the National Right to Life Committee, wrote anarticle. My guess is it’s the article where Todd Akin got his ideas about female reproductive biology, because it basically—it makes the same argument that he made, that when feminists or pro-choice advocates talk about an abortion exception for rape, it’s kind of a canard because, in fact, rape—pregnancy related from rape is extremely rare because of the trauma of rape sets off a kind of endocrine response that makes pregnancy impossible. One of the things he talks about in this article is he says, you know, pro-life advocates should always make a distinction—should always talk about forcible rape as opposed to rape.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Willke.

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: This is Willke. For two—for a couple of reasons. I mean, partly to distinguish it from statutory rape, and he also argues that a lot of women simply claim rape after they’ve become pregnant from consensual sex. So, the fact that this phrase has kind of entered the—not just the Republican lexicon, but that they’ve actually tried to write it into law is significant. And, of course, what it implies is that there is real rape or legitimate rape, and then lesser forms of rape, for which kind of exemptions shouldn’t be made.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, of course, if you talk about forcible rape, which was in the legislation co-sponsored by Akin and Ryan—

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: Right.

AMY GOODMAN: —that suggests there’s something called, what, "voluntary rape."

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: Right, exactly, yes, voluntary rape, nonviolent rape. Again, part of what they’re talking about is statutory rape, you know, the kind of—because there’s a massive gap in people’s ages. But again, that means that essentially, you know, a 13-year-old girl with a 30-year-old man, she wouldn’t be kind of entitled to any sort of federal protection if she gets pregnant. But, yeah, beyond that, it’s a little unclear. I mean, forcible rape is a term that’s in a lot of state penal codes, but it’s unclear what that would mean at the federal level in terms of funding, you know, whether it would, say, bar funding in a case where a woman was drugged or, you know, where a woman was simply threatened. To me, the point is, is that it was clearly an attempt to narrow the rape exemption and to say that some forms of rape are not as serious as others and don’t really count.

AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to stay with John Willke for a minute, the article you mentioned that he wrote called "Assault Rape Pregnancies Are Rare," in it Willke arguing that rape statistics are uncertain because some women are, quote, "pregnant from consensual intercourse, have later claimed rape," also writing, quote, "To get and stay pregnant a woman’s body must produce a very sophisticated mix of hormones. Hormone production is controlled by a part of the brain that is easily influenced by emotions. There’s no greater emotional trauma that can be experienced by a woman than an assault rape," unquote. That’s John C. Willke, often referred to as the father of the pro-life movement. You also report that Willke endorsed Governor Romney for president in 2007.

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: Right, well, and not just that Willke endorsed, because, you know, no politician is responsible for their endorsers, but the Romney campaign really touted him as a major surrogate and as a kind of—you know, as a really credible voice to the anti-abortion community.

AMY GOODMAN: And he’s not the only one. You’ve got, back in July 2010, Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle [asked] on a conservative radio show, "What do you say to a young girl who’s raped by her father? Let’s say she’s pregnant. How do you explain this to her in terms of wanting her to go through with the process of having the baby?" She’s asked this question. And she says, "I think two wrongs don’t make a right. I have been in the situation of counseling young girls, not 13 but 15, who have had very at risk, difficult pregnancies. And my counsel was to look for alternatives, which they did. They found that they had made what was really a lemon situation into lemonade."

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: Right. And this, I think, is the real issue. I mean, I don’t think that voters have less reason to be concerned about Todd Akin’s kind of fantastical notions about female reproductive biology. What really matters is the policies that he supports and, you know, the policy of kind of forcing rape victims, like I said, to carry pregnancies to term against their will. And that’s a view that used to be fairly marginal in the Republican Party—I mean, you know, as little as five or six years ago—but has now become incredibly mainstream, to the point where it’s, you know, been espoused by both of the last two Republican vice-presidential nominees.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re talking to Michelle Goldberg, a senior writer for Newsweek/The Daily Beast, who has been covering these issues. Now what happens, and where does Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan go?

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: Right. Well, my sense is they want him out of the race precisely because he highlights this issue that they don’t want to talk about. If you saw the National Review op-ed—or the National Revieweditorial saying, you know, "Akin, get out," it was partly because, as they said, you know, other Republicans hold this minority position but are able to talk about it in a way that doesn’t make them unelectable. Akin can’t do that. So, you know, every day that we’re talking about Akin, we’re not just talking about Akin, we’re also talking about Ryan and, you know, the kind of incredible rightward lurch of the Republican Party. So, they’re trying to get him out. You know, they’ve said they were going to withdraw support. Crossroads GPS, you know, the—

AMY GOODMAN: Karl Rove.

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: Right, they’re withdrawing support. But as of now, it doesn’t look like Akin is going anywhere. And I think what will be really interesting to see is the degree to which kind of the Christian right rallies around him, because, you know, some major Christian right organizations, Family Research Council—

AMY GOODMAN: Have already endorsed him.

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: Yeah, have already—and not just endorsed him, but kind of said that he should stay in the race.

AMY GOODMAN: Right, endorsing him staying. I want to go to Paul Ryan, who’s—no one is calling for him to step out—

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: Right, certainly.

AMY GOODMAN: —his view on birth control. Earlier this year, Congressman Ryan told David Gregory on Meet the Press he wasn’t concerned about Republicans overplaying their hand on the issue of contraception and women’s health. He suggested the government requiring employers to pay for birth control would violate people’s freedom of religion. Let’s go to that clip.

REP. PAUL RYAN: What we’re getting from the White House with this conscience issue, it’s not an issue about contraception, it’s an issue that reveals a political philosophy that the president is showing that basically treats our constitutional rights as if they’re revocable privileges from our government, not inalienable rights by our creator. And so, what I would simply say is, we’re seeing this new government activism, sort of a paternalistic, arrogant political philosophy, that puts new government-granted rights in the way of our constitutional rights. And so, what I think it really is is that it’s an argument for freedom, for our founding principles and for protecting those constitutional rights, which right now with his new mandate from HHS, like I said, it’s really not about contraception, it’s about violating our First Amendment rights to religious freedom and of conscience.

AMY GOODMAN: That’s Congressmember Paul Ryan.

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: You know, I don’t have the slightest idea about what his kind of personal belief is about contraception. He’s not like Rick Santorum, who has said that he wanted to use the power of the presidency to kind of inveigh against its evils. What we do know about him is that he co-sponsored the sanctity of human life amendment, the, you know, so-called—I mean, not—sorry, sanctity of human life law, the so-called personhood, federal personhood bill, which, whatever his intentions were regarding contraception, in practice would have banned or at least allowed states to ban many common forms of birth control, including the IUD, the birth control pill, certainly the morning-after pill.

AMY GOODMAN: Because it gives personhood to a fertilized egg.

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: Right, and because some of these methods of birth control work to prevent implantation as opposed to fertilization. So, yes, once kind of sperm meets egg, that entity has as many rights as—you know, as you or I.

AMY GOODMAN: So you have Mitt Romney saying at the Iowa State Fair last year that corporations are people. Then you have Paul Ryan saying that zygotes are people—

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: Right. And nobody—

AMY GOODMAN: —because they’re saying fertilized eggs are people.

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: But somehow, nobody will say that women are people. I mean, one of the interesting things about this is that, you know, when Paul Ryan wrote this op-ed about how he reconciles his pro-life absolutism with his kind of Ayn Randian libertarianism, he talked about the rights of the—you know, the rights of the fertilized egg or the rights of the embryo or fetus. He didn’t kind of mention women in this piece even once, I mean, even to kind of consider their rights or agency. It was just a nonissue to him.

AMY GOODMAN: His views on Planned Parenthood and where they stand?

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: He wants to completely defund it, you know, as does Mitt Romney. So, in that sense, there’s no difference between them. I think they both want to—you know, in the past, it was really typical for Republicans to want to, you know, put a lot of limits on Planned Parenthood, to make sure money given to Planned Parenthood for family planning activities was sequestered from any of their kind of abortion-related services. No, they both want to completely strip Planned Parenthood of all—and not just Planned Parenthood, all kind of federal family planning programs of all funding.

AMY GOODMAN: Let’s turn to an ad approved by the Obama administration that features a series of women talking about Mitt Romney’s plans to defund Planned Parenthood.

Ah, thought we had that. But I also want to talk about Mitt Romney and his stance right now on Akin. He came out pretty quickly—

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: Mm-hmm.

AMY GOODMAN: —and said this is offensive. But let’s go back a little bit to Sandra Fluke, the young law school student who wanted to testify before Congress about the importance of funding of contraception for students, and Rush Limbaugh’s attack on her—

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: Mm-hmm.

AMY GOODMAN: —calling her a slut and a prostitute. He even said that they should post video of her online—she should be forced to post video of herself online having sex. When he called her a slut, what exactly were Mitt Romney’s words?

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: I believe they were—they were something to the effect of, "I would have used different language."

AMY GOODMAN: In fact, with Akin, he also came out a little softer at the beginning, before this tidal wave of anger, not as explicitly as he recently just talked about his views being offensive.

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: Well, and there’s a couple—there’s a lot of differences between Rush—Rush Limbaugh is obviously a much more powerful figure, with a lot more support, than Todd Akin is. You know, Todd Akin had already kind of defied the Republican Party in this race. You know, he already had alienated a lot of Republicans. And also, this language, because, again, it seemed to kind of impugn the morality of rape victims who become pregnant, including, you know, anti-abortion rape victims, that outraged not just, you know, people on the left, but it also—you know, you have people like Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter and people like that calling for him to step aside. There’s a group called Live Action, which is known for sending people undercover into abortion clinics to try to prove that they’re doing something sinister. You know, one of the things that they’ve been trying to prove is that abortion clinics aren’t reporting instances of rape, and so—you know, so the idea that kind of rape victims don’t get pregnant is anathema to them. You know, the personhood people, the people who have been pushing these personhood amendments all across the country—

AMY GOODMAN: That Paul Ryan supports.

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: Right, that Paul Ryan supports, they have people on their staff who go—who they say are—or, I have no—who I’m sure are baby—or, whose mothers were rape victims and who brought them to term and, you know, who go around saying, "I have a right to live." So, this is not—you know, so, the idea that kind of, again, that rape never results in pregnancy, it’s not as if this is a kind of universal message among the anti-abortion movement, although it is part of the pseudoscience that garners some of them.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you very much for being with us, Michelle Goldberg, senior writer forNewsweek/The Daily Beast, author of Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism and The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power, and the Future of the World. Her latest piece is "Todd Akin’s Rape Comment Was Bad, but His Abortion Views Are Much Worse." We’ll link to it at democracynow.org. Thanks you so much, Michelle. This isDemocracy Now! Back in a minute.

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