“Horses, horses, horses, horses”
The GOP hates them some womenses, but loves them some horsies!
During a month in which the anti-choice Republican and Tea Party majority in Congress and in many states have made it their priority mission to eliminate access to contraception for women here and abroad, and on the very same day that the House planned to vote to take away birth control for women living in poverty in the US and eliminate funding for international family planning, you will be happy to know that there is at least one group the GOP believes deserves access to contraception.
Wild horses.
You just can’t make this shit up.
[cross-posted here at Angry Black Lady Chronicles]
MikeJ
Is there supposed to be a link to a Patti Smith video there?
And why on earth does an h4 header display like a hyperlink?
Warren Terra
Maybe they want women to be rocking on the horse-sized pills?
Violet
Horses aren’t women. Horses deserve to be treated with respect.
Origuy
Wild horses graze on land leased by ranchers for pennies per acre, eating plants that by rights should go to cattle.
dmsilev
Honestly, given the sexual proclivities of many GOP lawmakers, promoting safe sex for horses is just good sense.
dms
GG
Their rationale for horse contraception is simple
Comrade Mary
I think the disappearing video link is a FYWP move aimed at ABL.
Here’s Patti, for those of you who love her like I do.
God, I can’t even be happy that Republicans are actually on the side of the angels on the horse issues, given their massive fuckwittery everywhere else.
freelancer
Wow, it’s like they’re cribbing off of Borat.
General Stuck
wymins is easier to control pregnant, hungry, and guilt ridden. And besides, just one more thing to blame on liberals for making all them red states take the most welfare money from blue state tax payers. Then they get to rail about godless liberal lust, big government, welfare, deficit spending, and giving baby jeevus permanent colic. All of it the fault of Panned Parenthood, Lindsay Lohan, and Uncle Sam.
Quicksand
Oh man, this is REALLY going to piss off Horse Jesus.
MikeJ
They used to round up the wild horses and sell them to dog food companies but people complained and stopped it. Contraceptives do seem like a better plan.
shawntos
I remember a few years ago Texas outlawed sodomy but made bestiality legal. Or so sayeth David Cross.
Angry Black Lady
@Quicksand: FTW.
shawntos
I remember a few years ago Texas outlawed sodomy but made bestiality legal. Or so sayeth David Cross.
reader
Ah, extensive quoting from another source, little or no actual content (and if there is any, it must be littered with ALL CAPS, bold, italics, and sometimes ALL THREE), and random embedded videos…it must be an ABL post.
Great contribution to the site.
General Stuck
It gets lonely out there riding the range for weeks on end, just you, the cold, and yer horse.
Of course, sheepherders can travel on foot and do okay in the lonely department.
Just Some Fuckhead
Only a foal would have an abortion!
JGabriel
Contraception for Mare, but not for Marie.
.
freelancer
@JGabriel:
For a filly, but not for a Phyllis.
Brian
And all the Wingnuts sing:
“Wild horses, at least they’re not gay…”
Warren Terra
@shawntos:
I cannot let this pass without quoting from Molly Ivins’s wonderful column on the subject:
The whole column is worth reading, which you can do via an appropriate search at this Amazon link
jenn
This isn’t quite as crazy as it sounds – well, the horse bit, anyway. (I recognize that the link makes that clear – just adding to the story.) Wild horse populations have an incredibly rapid growth rate, and are resulting in some pretty impressive environmental damage in some places here in the arid West. And, no, it’s not just a matter of wild horses competing with cattle for forage (though that is certainly a factor for some ranchers) – I’ve seen streams grazed by horses (and only horses) that are in as bad condition as the worst I’ve ever seen impacted by cattle grazing. However, the horse lobby is extremely strong, and the laws by which the BLM can capture horses pretty strict (with good reason – some of the abuses that led to this law were absolutely sickening), and the whole thing is incredibly expensive. Unfortunately, even before the economic downturn wild horse adoptions were difficult – now rescues are filled with horses folks have had to give up because of the recession. Hence, contraception measures for horses as a less expensive, and more humane, method of dealing with the situation.
The GOP’s war on women? Crazy.
General Stuck
@Warren Terra:
That’s hilarious. I sure do miss Molly.
lamh32
Ugh…this is so OT, but this from Chris Matthews is just too much.
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/chris-matthews-on-obamas-libya-statement-it-doesnt-have-any-dignity/“>Chris Matthews On Obama’s Libya Statement: “It Doesn’t Have Any Dignity”
Really Tweety, no “dignity”. And Howard Fineman and David Corn agreed.
Southern Beale
I expected a link to Patti Smith.
Memories of college. *Ahhh*
Southern Beale
BTW, on Cenk’s show tonight they were talking about some crazy-assed Georgia Republican who wants to outlaw miscarriage. Not abortion, mind you, but miscarriage.
I mean, just ENOUGH already. Time to go all Loreena Bobbitt on these assholes. In a figurative sense, of course. As a woman, I’m so fucking offended you have no idea.
chopper
@General Stuck:
i just can’t believe these people read the handmaid’s tale and thought shit, i want me some o that!
arguingwithsignposts
So much going on today – everybody needs a kitteh!
Violet
@chopper:
Read? Ha ha ha ha! They didn’t read anything, unless it was the Bible.
sukabi
@Violet: and then only selected passages that support their points of view…
asiangrrlMN
@Southern Beale: ABL posted about it down below. He wants to criminalize it. Here’s my take on it.
asiangrrlMN
@arguingwithsignposts: Thanks. I needed that. That’s me commenting.
shawntos
@Warren Terra
Thanks for the link.
Roger Moore
In fairness, feral horses are an invasive non-native species that probably ought to be extirpated from the West. If they can do that cheaper and more humanely with contraceptives than by slaughtering them, I’m all for it. The stupidity here is in making it hard for women to get contraceptives, not in using them on horses.
Amir_Khalid
Wild Horses? If it’s not the Rolling Stones, it has to be Susan Boyle.
maya
@dmsilev: Yes. Why weren’t goats included?
Skalite
I feel this is probably a good time to mention my amazing horse
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUl9_5kK9ts
Tax Analyst
@dmsilev:
I knew somebody would beat me to that line.
Mnemosyne
@arguingwithsignposts:
Lady Smudge! The Somebody’s kittehs are also very cute, also too.
piratedan
actually like the Sundays rendition, imho….although their best was still
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n35C0j3LLB0
Angry Black Lady
@reader: shorter: waaaaaaaaaaah
ornery curmudgeon
@Roger Moore: Actually, horses are native to North America, and are NOT an “invasive” species. Horses became extinct in NA (overhunting by early humans is the likely reason) after crossing the Bering Strait into Asia and proliferating across the continent.
Ranchers want to use the land, and every sanctuary set up for wild horses is being encroached upon. The idea of contraception is simply to eliminate wild horses from America. It has absolutely nothing to do with ‘helping’ the horses. At. All.
Maybe it should also be pointed out that honoring horses is a part of human history: equestrian nations have led the world since antiquity. The decline of a people has historically preceded or coincided with the decline of their interest and skill in horsemanship. Honoring horses is part of the history of successful nations.
Not saying this post or the commenters are showing disrespect, but it is entirely appropriate that a declining America should forget about and even begin to mock horses. Really, not everything has to be about the political failures of the United States.
ornery curmudgeon
@Roger Moore: Actually, horses are native to North America, and are NOT an “invasive” species. Horses became extinct in NA (overhunting by early humans is the likely reason) after crossing the Bering Strait into Asia and proliferating across the continent.
Ranchers want to use the land, and every sanctuary set up for wild horses is being encroached upon. The idea of contraception is simply to eliminate wild horses from America. It has absolutely nothing to do with ‘helping’ the horses. At. All.
Maybe it should also be pointed out that honoring horses is a part of human history: equestrian nations have led the world since antiquity. The decline of a people has historically preceded or coincided with the decline of their interest and skill in horsemanship. Honoring horses is part of the history of successful nations.
Not saying this post or the commenters are showing disrespect, but it is entirely appropriate that a declining America should forget about and even begin to mock horses.
ornery curmudgeon
Sorry about the double post; was trying to edit out the last line about politics. It was unneeded.
Oh and FYWP.
Disgusted
@Roger Moore and others mocking the wild horses. They are in fact native to America. They are protected animals. The land they live on was designated TO them in the wild horse and burro act of 1971. Studies have shown cattle do 100 times more damage than the wild horses and burros. 20 years ago there were 200,000 wild horses and approx. 30,000 burros. The BLM has rounded up all but a few and plan to round up the remaining 17,000-28,000 left in the wild. So you, yes you, can pay for their feed and care with YOUR tax dollars until every last wild mustang and burro are dead. They have been caught in lie after lie. They fudge the numbers of how many are actually on the land. They have no idea how many are actually left because they are using 10 year old data. Almost half the horses they round up seem to be missing and no one is even questioning this. So before you decide to mouth off, why don’t you educate yourself rather than making yourself look like a fool who knows very little about what he is spouting off about.
The PZP they are using on the mares hasn’t even been tested. They are using these animals as guinea pigs. Have you ever seen what happens at these roundups? Animals break their necks, hips, legs and backs and die horrible deaths. Mares abort foals because they are run for miles without rest. Foals hooves literally fall off. Horses (seemingly unknown to you) have family bands. They show love to those in their band and try to protect them. Does a cow? Oh wait, who cares we eat those! Fools. All of you. EDUCATE YOURSELVES!!!! The cattle that graze on the land that was designated PRIMARILY FOR HORSES AND BURROS are not what you see in the grocery store. Only about 3% of those grazing on public land ever get slaughtered. So can you tell me why they are there? What is the REAL reason for the roundups? Do you even know? No. You don’t. So sad there are so many people out there with your same mentality. I’d bet you’ve never even been within 100 yards of a horse. You people make me sick.