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Wednesday January 31, 2018 · 10:07 AM PST

2018/01/31 · 10:07

I feel that I am being dishonestly trolled for honestly speaking about my feelings, without justifying my feelings, just being honest about them. I understand which group is behind these attacks and this is not a political time for me to take them on. And, frankly, it is still not clear to me what I said that that was so offensive. Dark trolling, I would call it.

Truck slams into Amtrak train carrying Republicans to party retreat

Karen Hedwig Backman

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Wednesday January 31, 2018 · 9:15 AM PST

2018/01/31 · 09:15

Oh, woe is me! Why can’t I feel the teensiest bit sorry that Republicans were slammed by a truck? Why? Why? Why?

www.marketwatch.com/…

And why do I feel a teensy bit of regret that no one was injured?

I harbor not a whit of compassion for Republicans who are incapable of feeling compassion. I am incapable of turning the other cheek with these folks, of being capable of forgiveness for their incredible evils.

Is there a support group for people like me? And, what is our twelve-step program for building compassion?

Should I lock myself into a room with only Karen Armstrong’s Twelve steps to a compassionate life, and only bread and water and three grains of salt to eat? Could I be redeemed?

Pushing back against the hypocrisy of the anti-abortion people . . .

Karen Hedwig Backman

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Tuesday January 30, 2018 · 9:01 AM PST

2018/01/30 · 09:01

Things are happening in Alabama. Sort of. Democrats are fired up and dynamic young candidates are appearing to run for the post of Governor, Attorney General, US Reps, etc. However, the litmus test is always:

Are you a man of faith?

Are you pro-life?

Always, the compliant candidate must assure the multitude that he is, indeed, a man of faith, that he is opposed to abortion (at least, most are able to say, except for rare instances).

I am not prepared to take on the God-damned faith issue yet but I refuse to be silent about the God-damned hypocrisy of the anti-abortion people.

They yippety yap endlessly about the evil of abortion and the blessedness of the unborn but they don’t give a good God damn about the fact that in America (and the situation is far far worse for women in Alabama), in America a woman is seven times more likely to die of pregnancy-related complications than a woman in Finland.

Last night, at a local Democratic campaign gathering for Walt Maddox, brief bio follows, who is running for Governor, I raised the issue of maternal deaths — and a few women in the gathering cried out “Shame! Shame!” at the hypocrisy of the anti-abortion people.

To give Maddox his due, he is deeply concerned about stupid Republican cuts on MediAid to Alabama and its effect on prenatal and obstetric care for Alabama women. But, he has to give lip service to the faith and pro-life issues, I realize that this is a reality of life in Alabama.

Maddox:

On May 22, 2017, Walt Maddox was sworn in for his fourth term as the City of Tuscaloosa's 36th Mayor.

Since his first inauguration in 2005, Walt has been dedicated to seeing Tuscaloosa reach its greatest potential, and has led the city during tough times….

waltmaddox.com/...

I certainly would vote for Maddox because he says the right things about the corruption of Alabama, the appalling prison situation in Alabama, the wretchedness of health care in Alabama, many other issues, but I’m tired of having to bite my tongue and grit my teeth when the hypocritical issues of faith and abortion are raised.

And, boy, do Alabamans, they love them their hypocrisy.

Reproductive Liberty. Reproductive Responsibility. Reproductive Justice.

Karen Hedwig Backman

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Sunday January 28, 2018 · 3:34 PM PST

2018/01/28 · 15:34

Reproductive Liberty: I don’t believe that humans have the right to flood the Earth with human overpopulation.

One should instantly recognize the danger of the “Quiverfull” Movement, exemplified by the Family Duggar. And the Family Turpin. Both examples of human depravity enabled by the heavy hand of Patriarchy.

Heedless and irresponsible, beginning with the sexist bible verse responsible for the movement, Psalm 127:5:

Happy is the MAN that hath his quiver full of them. . . (children).

What about the woman? Or the women involved when men had multiple wives?

What about the physical toll or the potentially death-risking toll of pregnancy on a woman’s body? Why doesn’t the sexist bible mention that aspect of the “quiverfull”?

These heedless, irresponsible men subjecting their wives to endless, health-depleting pregnancies, also heedless of the enormous demands of parenthood: love, attention, caring, nurturing, teaching values.

Untended, untaught, Josh Duggar did not know it was wrong to sexually molest his sisters and other vulnerable girls.

And the family horrors of David and Louise Turpin.

Unspeakable!

And, a multitude of thanks to Sister Song for the last concept, Women of African Descent for Reproductive Justice, check out their website, which is being built, at:

sistersong.net/…

Who Are My State Representatives?

Karen Hedwig Backman

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Saturday December 16, 2017 · 1:08 PM PST

2017/12/16 · 13:08

Letter to my Secretary of State in Alabama, John Harold Merrill:

I just moved to the State of Alabama from the State of Washington and I am having a hell of a lot of problems getting very basic information that is absolutely necessary for an informed voter in a democratic society -- which I hope Alabama is.-- to function as an informed voter.

When I go to the Washington State Legislature on line, which state practices good old American democracy as laid out in the U.S. and Washington State Constitutions, the first thing I get is a request for my residential address so I can determine who my state representatives are. I've been searching and searching the Alabama State website and all I get is nothing. Is your office kind of like they run things in Russia and China where they suppress this kind of information in order to keep their citizens ignorant and stupid? I certainly hope this is not so.

My new Alabama address is:

Karen Hedwig Backman

XXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXX

I will be calling your office this coming week to get this very usually simple matter straightened out and I do believe that it is my sacred duty as an involved and informed citizen to let the people of Alabama know what information they should have -- just in case Alabama turns out to be like Russia and China.

I do believe you have an obligation to me and the other tax-paying and voting citizens who should have their voices in a democracy heard to make it easy for Alabama residents to find out who their state representatives are.

Please advise me as to what Alabama policies are in regard to voter information.

Thank you.

I hope Secretary Merrill lets me know real soon because, of course, I have a lot to discuss with my state reps.

Alabama Needs a Good Candidate to Run Against John Merrill, Presently Alabama's Secretary of State

Karen Hedwig Backman

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Saturday December 16, 2017 · 9:05 AM PST

2017/12/16 · 09:05

Here’s why:

“As long as I’m secretary of state of Alabama,” John Merrill proclaimed in 2016, “you’re going to have to show some initiative to become a registered voter in this state.”

Merrill, a Republican, is still secretary of state. But Tuesday’s special election proved his declaration was incomplete. In Alabama, showing initiative isn’t always sufficient to become a registered voter.

Under Merrill’s regime, a multitude of voters—most of them in majority-black counties—struggled to cast their ballots in the race between Roy Moore and Doug Jones. Unprepared poll workers spread misinformation. Bewildered citizens were forced to fill out confusing, redundant paperwork. Qualified voters were told they could not vote. And the state may well have run afoul of federal law.

www.slate.com/…

Merrill decisions make it difficult for minorities to vote in Alabama:

When Alabamians go to the polls on Tuesday to elect Republican Roy Moore or Democrat Doug Jones as their new senator, an untold number will not participate due to the decisions made by Merrill’s office—which is in charge of ensuring a fair voting process—and by the Republicans who run the state. These laws and policies overwhelmingly make it harder for minorities to vote.

The election has captured national attention for pitting Moore, an anti-gay zealot accused of sexually assaulting teenagers, against Jones, a former federal prosecutor known for prosecuting KKK murderers. Alabama is a deeply conservative state, and it’s a testament to Moore’s unparalleled weakness as a candidate that the race is close. Most recent polls show Moore with a single-digit

lead.www.motherjones.com/...

Appropriate or not in his position as Secretary of State, Merrill announced:

"I'm voting for the Republican nominee, who is Judge Roy Moore. And I had stated on numerous occasions, both publicly and privately, that unless the charges that had been alleged by the women that came forward and brought those charges were proven to be true, that I would continue to support the Republican nominee, who happens to be Judge Roy Moore.

www.wbur.org/…

I’ve been trying to find out if John Merrill had anyone opposing him in his election to Alabama Secretary of State but it kinda looks like Ajit Pai’s regime is already blocking your average American taxpayer’s access to internet information and I can’t get nowhere. Most likely Merrill did not have anyone running against him, very common in Alabama, and was just handed his position for the asking.

The first thing that Alabamans who favor election justice must do is to recruit a good candidate to run against Merrill in 2018 — internet won’t even disclose to me if Merrill is up for election then, but I’m guessing he is.

Oops, Ballotpedia just disclosed that Lula Albert-Kaigler ran against Merrill in 2014. Merrill won by more than 300K votes.

There seems to be a term limitation to the Alabama Secretary of State position but info is not easily accessible.

Knowledgeable Kos people, please enlighten me.

Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Carol Robertson, Cynthia Wesley

Karen Hedwig Backman

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Tuesday December 12, 2017 · 11:34 AM PST

2017/12/12 · 11:34

Addie Mae Collins:

Addie Mae Collins was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on April 18, 1949. On September 15, 1963, McNair and three other African-American girls were killed in a terrorist attack perpetrated by members of the Ku Klux Klan. This crime marked a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement. Three men responsible for Collins's murder were brought to justice between 1977 and 2002.

www.biography.com/…

Carol Denise McNair:

Denise McNair was born on November 17, 1951 in Birmingham, Alabama, USA as Carol Denise McNair. She died on September 15, 1963 in Birmingham.

www.imdb.com/…

Carol Robertson:

Born on April 24, 1949, Carole Robertson grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. A good student who loved reading and dancing, she attended the city's 16th Street Baptist Church. On September 15, 1963, a 14-year-old Robertson was killed, along with three other young victims, when her church was bombed by members of the Ku Klux Klan. Their tragic deaths led to more support for the Civil Rights Movement.

www.biography.com/...!

Cynthia Wesley:

Cynthia Wesley was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on April 30, 1949. On September 15, 1963, the 14-year-old Wesley and three other young girls were killed in a church bombing perpetrated by members of the Ku Klux Klan. This crime marked a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement. Three men responsible for the terrorist act were brought to justice between 1977 and 2002.

www.biography.com/...!

No justice for these little girls until Doug Jones, 1997:

President Bill Clinton announced on August 18, 1997, his intent to appoint Jones as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, and formally nominated Jones to the post on September 2, 1997. On September 8, 1997, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama appointed Jones as interim U.S. Attorney. The Senate confirmed Jones' nomination on November 8, 1997, by voice vote.

In January 1998, Eric Rudolph bombed the New Woman All Women Health Care Center in Birmingham. Jones became responsible for coordinating the state and federal task force in the aftermath, and advocated for Rudolph to be tried first in Birmingham before being extradited and tried in Georgia for his crimes in that state, such as the Centennial Olympic Park bombing.

….Jones prosecuted Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr. and Bobby Frank Cherry, two members of the Ku Klux Klan, for their roles in the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. The case was reopened the year before Jones was appointed, but did not pick up traction until his appointment. A federal grand jury was called in 1998 which piqued Cherry's ex-wife, Willadean Cherry's, attention and led her to call the FBI to report her testimony. Willadean then introduced Jones to family and friends who reported their own experiences from the time of the bombing. A key piece of evidence was a tape from the time of the bombing in which Blanton stated that he had had to meet up with others to make the bomb. Jones was deputized in order to argue in state court and was able to indict Blanton and Cherry in 2000. Blanton was found guilty in 2001, and Cherry was found guilty in 2002. Both Blanton and Cherry were sentenced to life in prison. Blanton was up for parole in 2016, at which Jones spoke in opposition to his potential release. Blanton's parole was denied. Cherry died in prison in 2004.

en.wikipedia.org/…

Just wanted to remember Addie Mae, Carol Denise, Carol and Cynthia today.

But What If a Woman Is Not Beautiful?

Karen Hedwig Backman

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Monday December 11, 2017 · 9:14 AM PST

2017/12/11 · 09:14

Gender politics is running rampant these days, raising the issues of power over others and sexual harassment by the powerful (white and male primarily) who may feel at liberty to sexually harass their underlings (women, primarily).

The underlying message of our culture is that men are to be powerful, women are to be beautiful (and compliant).

But, not every woman is a beauty. And, why should she be?

And not every man is powerful, whatever that might mean.

Also, many would have it that a woman who strives to be equal to a man in power cannot possibly be “beautiful”.

An ugly woman and a weak man completely wreck the heterosexual ideal of groups like The Federalist, whose origins and funding seem to be hidden. But Ronald Pisaturo has written a book sponsored by The Federalist, Masculine Power, Feminine Beauty: The Volitional, Objective Basis for Heterosexuality in Romantic Love and Marriage,

So, I guess if a woman is ugly that totally screws heterosexuality.

Presuppositionalism. And Roy Moore. WTF?

Karen Hedwig Backman

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Sunday November 26, 2017 · 11:22 AM PST

2017/11/26 · 11:22

Presupposionalism: Roy Moore’s god overlooks every single sin of people of his faith ‘cuz they can have no error, believing as they do in their “god”:

To many of Moore’s supporters, this is a powerful message. They believe that if you have the right principles, all other truth follows. Without God, there can be no morality. With God, and with a good man like Moore, there can be no error. This mentality, known in Christian scholarship as “presuppositionalism,” sustains evangelical support for President Trump, according to Molly Worthen, a professor at the University of North Carolina, who explained the phenomenon at last week’s Faith Angle Forum in Miami Beach. People who think this way dismiss inconvenient facts. When the Washington Post goes after Moore, and when Senate leaders tell him to drop out, Moore’s believers rally around him.

www.slate.com/…

Information is not valid unless it comes from the revealed “truths” of the Bible:

www.nytimes.com/…

And who gets to “reveal” these “truths”? Evangelical white males, that’s who, evangelical white males like Roy Moore who cannot tell a lie, no matter what, ‘cuz the god Roy Moore made in his very own image told him so.

Out and out idolatry, worshiping gods made in their own image, that’s what it is.

And, if you worship these false gods you can believe that climate change is not real, that evolution is “a myth made up by scientists who hate God”, that capitalism is God’s ideal for society. You don’t have to believe in facts and evidence.

Faith-based misinformation that leads to other evils such as teen pregnancy and STDs as a result of “abstinence only” sex education.

Presuppositionalism. Bah humbug!

Is That Why National Republican Legislators Need to Have So Much Time Off From Meeting in Congress?

Karen Hedwig Backman

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Thursday November 23, 2017 · 10:21 AM PST

2017/11/23 · 10:21

Is Joe Barton, congressman from the Sixth Congressional District of Texas, the only congressman who indulges in multiple sexual encounters and marital infidelities when he is absent from Congress? Is this a regular pattern for Republican congressmen, reminiscent of the multiple sexual encounters and infidelities of Newt Gingrich?

No wonder these people need so much time off from working for our nation. They lied when they said they used that time for fundraising. The whole Republican establishment is massively corrupt.

The woman described encounters and contact spanning a five-year period that began online after she posted a message on Barton’s Facebook page in 2011, leading to the sexually explicit exchanges and ultimately a pair of physical sexual encounters in Washington and Texas. Over time, she said, she became aware of and corresponded with multiple other women who engaged in relationships with Barton, who represents a suburban Dallas district and is one of the most senior Republicans in the House….

Earlier Wednesday, Barton acknowledged “sexual relationships with other mature adult women” that he said took place while he was “separated from my second wife, before the divorce.”

www.washingtonpost.com/…

It appears, also, that Barton spent a lot of time on Facebook picking up women:

The woman said Barton first reached out to her in 2011 after she posted a comment about politics on his Facebook page. As the two struck up a friendship, they would exchange messages for hours, including when he was on the House floor or in committee meetings, she said.

Soon, Barton began flirting, making suggestive comments and sending explicit messages, she said. She described feeling uncomfortable with his advances at first.

Ibid.

And these are the libindinous white men who want to limit access to contraception and abortion to sexually active women.

I say:

BOOT ALL OF THESE LYING, HYPOCRITICAL BASTARDS OUT OF OFFICE!

Where -- and How -- Did Kevin Janson Neal Get His Weaponry?

Karen Hedwig Backman

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Wednesday November 15, 2017 · 3:28 PM PST

2017/11/15 · 15:28

Kevin Janson Neal was visibly mentally ill. Supposedly, he was not supposed to have weaponry. But this is fucked up America ruled by the NRA and he had them.

How can you remove deadly weaponry from someone like Neal when he is in possession? What cop or sheriff’s department wants to confront a situation like that?

And, very frankly, haven’t horrific mass shootings increased in frequency and ferocity since His Excellency El Trumpo took office?

Our culture has glamorized violence through novels, television, movies and video games. The spike in mass shootings over the last decade is a generational consequence of celebrating death more than life. America’s fascination with violence consciously and unconsciously affects many of us in different ways.

It starts out as innocent games of cowboys and Indians or cops and robbers. We send these same kids to schools that have canonized our nation’s most historic battlegrounds and immortalized the soldiers who fought and died on those sacred grounds. We have Civil War reenactments where we simulate the experience of being on some of America’s most deadly killing fields. For every person truly repulsed by depictions of violence there are throngs of people cancelling out their voices.

thyblackman.com/…

Letter writers ask in vain:

Oct. 4 Letters: When will Congress end gun control insanity?

www.mercurynews.com/…

Cowardly Congress? Owned by the NRA? The Twelfth of Never, that’s when.

And with the violence-loving Trump in command, such legislation will never move beyond his veto.

Ever Lovers of Hypocrisy: Alabama and the American South

Karen Hedwig Backman

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Tuesday November 14, 2017 · 12:01 PM PST

2017/11/14 · 12:01

I swear, Roy Moore is going to be the new Senator from Alabama because he’s such a God damned big hypocrite — and Alabamans they love them their hypocrites.

And, the sad fact is that Alabamans have been schooled to hate Democrats so much they would vote for a self-confessed child molester (if he was a Republican) over a Democrat. They live and breathe hatred of Democrats and imbue it in their children.

Even my own granddaughter, coming up in Alabama schools, had picked up this hatred of Democrats — her parents were not particularly into politically programming children so she was infected by the careful indoctrination of her fellow students. When her parents became aware of this indoctrination, they explained the reality of things to her and she was restored to rational thinking immediately.

I openly admit my bias in thinking that the American South is hostile to facts and reality and their brand of religion breeds hypocrisy with its love of loud public praying and ostentatious demonstrations of religiosity. Quakerism definitely not a going thing in the South with its silent meditation.

Being well-larded with self-righteous holier than thou sanctity and moral superiority seems to be a Southern trait. Being acquainted with the truth and reality is not. Hard facts frighten Southerners.

Geeze, if you can lie about the real reason for the Civil War for a century or so, lying about anything else is horrifically easy.

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