Secret forced sterilizations in Uzbekistan

By GottaLaff

There are some things that are so difficult to read, so hard to process, that writing about them is painful. This is one of those things:

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, April 25 (UPI) -- Many women in Uzbekistan are sterilized without their consent under a government order meant to reduce the number of poor people, human rights activists say.

A human rights campaigner who requested anonymity because of fear of detention said about 5,000 women have been sterilized without consent since February, The Sunday Times of London reported.

Doctors visit the homes of women and lie to get them to hospitals, where they then perform sterilization.

One young woman, 26, was told she had a fatal cyst. She had no symptoms. She was frightened into admitting herself to a local hospital, agreed to surgery, and then woke up to find she had been sterilized.

"I could not stop crying. They tricked me and treated me like an animal."

CPAC gay-basher's past: Domestic violence plus...

By GottaLaff

Remember this guy?




Well now, via TPM, we find out he has quite a past:

The man who cited natural law in an off-script anti-gay rant at CPAC has had two run-ins with the real law in the past decade, including a restraining order for domestic violence, according to court records in California.

Ryan Sorba of California Young Americans for Freedom, who is a longtime anti-gay activist, in 2001 had a restraining order brought against him by a woman in a San Bernardino County domestic violence case, according to case records.

What a guy. How inclusive of the GOP to give him a platform.

He was also ordered to move out of the "family dwelling" in Highland, a small city outside San Bernardino, according to records. Sorba was 19 at the time and did not appear in court for any of the proceedings.

In an interview with TPMmuckraker this morning, Sorba declined to provide a detailed account of what happened, but dismissed the matter as "the stupidest thing you could ever imagine."

"I got in a fight with a kid in my neighborhood. And the mother did not want us getting in any more fights," he said. "And so the mother filed a restraining order. And then nothing else ever happened."

He says they're all pals now. And he says they were pals then. With friends like Sorba....

But wait! There's more!

In 2008, Sorba pleaded guilty to a noise violation for a disturbance at a polling place on election day. He told TPMmuckraker that he was handing out pro-Prop 8 flyers when "some homosexual guy came up and I guess he called the police and they gave me a ticket."

Asked how he knew the man was gay, Sorba said "because he looked gay, he sounded gay -- it was evident."

"I'm proud of that ticket. I look at that ticket as if it's a trophy," he said.

Welcome to The Big Tent GOP.

H/t: Harborguy

TV violence vs. women up 120% (400% against teen girls)

By GottaLaff

Some progress, huh? What ever happened to "You've come a long way, baby"?

The Parents Television Council reports that women and girls are victimized more often and more brutally in television programming than ever before. The study, "Women in Peril: A Look at TV's Disturbing New Storyline Trend," reads in part:

"Incidents of violence against women and teenage girls are increasing on television at rates that far exceed the overall increases in violence on television. Violence, irrespective of gender, on television increased only 2% from 2004 to 2009, while incidents of violence against women increased 120% during that same period."

The report also says, "Although female victims were primarily of adult age, collectively, there was a 400% increase in the depiction of teen girls as victims across all networks from 2004 to 2009."

The reports can be found at www.parentstv.org

If your family casually watches brutality and accepts it is as "entertaining," then you are part of the problem.

What is the situation in your home? Are you allowing women and girls to be "virtually" beaten, raped and threatened in your family room? Are sex acts and violence taking place in front of a vulnerable audience of ... your own children?

Gee, at least today women can kill themselves with cigarettes just like their male counterparts. Pfft, what are we complaining about? We're nearly equal to the men folk now! Who needs to be victimized when we have all that and more?

Video- VP Biden Announces New White House Advisor on Violence Against Women

Joe at AmericaBlog is very psyched about this appointment, and I trust his opinion. Good on Obama.