(no subject)

[apocalypsos]

In case you haven't seen the link yet, the South Carolina State House passed a bill cracking down on gamecock fighting and tabled a bill protecting victims of domestic violence. As you can read in the article, Rep. John Graham Altman then proceeded to use the occasion to behave like a complete and total asstard.

But the good things is, everybody stepped to call him on it.

Comments

[palmetto.livejournal.com]

...I bet this guy beats his wife. Seriously.

[irishblessing.livejournal.com]

That's what our local radio station personality, Jonathan Rush, said the morning after it happened ;)

[palmetto.livejournal.com]

I knew I wouldn't be the only one to think so. ;)

[vass]

I hadn't seen it. Thank you.

My Gods. Yeah, that's a complete and total asstard all right. Man. I didn't know I had that much rage left in me tonight. I mean, it's nearly bedtime, I should be winding down. Fuck.

[stevie-jane.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, the welfare of cocks is more important than the welfare of women beaten in their own homes. That makes perfect sense. In Bizarro World.

I wonder if it was called Rooster-Fighting if things would be different.

[anne-jumps.livejournal.com]

As someone said when I posted that in feminist, "If the roosters don't like fighting, they should just leave!!!"

[overloved.livejournal.com]

that's a good one.

[dday515.livejournal.com]

As someone who is a native SC-inian and who currently LIVES in Columbia, SC -let me tell you - its crazy how insane this man is. Whats even more insane? My girlfriend works at the state house, and while everyone agrees that was stupid to say it - no one thinks it will affect his re-election.

There are days that I just LOVE my state.

[irishblessing.livejournal.com]

I live in Sumter :)

There's always people stupid enough to vote for asshats, you know? So yeah, I agree with you. He'll get re-elected.

[valerie]

*HEADDESK* *HEADDESK* *HEADDESK*

Sweet mother Goddess. There actually is that level of stupid!

I'm still convinced we all shifted into some bizarre parallel dimension and we just weren't told about it.

[fernwithy.livejournal.com]

Yup, the guy's an asshat. (Though I do agree with his assessment about why in the hell women stay--there are lots of alternatives, constantly talked about in the media; even anti-divorce, pro-two-parent-family little me has a very clear limit on when to end a relationship, and that limit is the exact moment the fist flies. He gets one chance to raise it and think better of it, and get himself to counselling. But if it actually comes down... well, to quote my mother when a boyfriend raised a hand at her, "You follow through on that, you'll never use the hand again." I don't care how "in love" you are--if you're getting hit, it's not an equal relationship--or about finances, or anything of the sort. Pack up. Go to mom's. Go to a shelter. Go to church/synagogue/mosque. Just go.)

Of course, I think domestic abuse should be a felony on the first strike. Zero tolerance policy. Jail time, plus the victim seizes all of his assets. That's one where I don't understand in the least why we have any soft-pedalling, particularly in my own conservative community, where we're supposed to be protecting marriage. Nothing is a bigger threat to marriage than any acceptance of domestic abuse.

[ampersand.livejournal.com]

Mmm. Some women don't believe they have anywhere to go, some women have children who he can legally demand access to, some women are afraid he'll follow them, some women think it's not his fault but the drink or the rage or the drugs, some women just plain believe they deserve it. Even coming from a strong and loving background, you can get worn down to a point where you're pretty sure you deserve it and you'll never find anything better. He apologizes later, swears he's never gonna do it again, is sweet and loving and attentive. So they stay.

It's not right, and nobody deserves to be hurt. But it goes like that.

[fernwithy.livejournal.com]

Oh, they definitely deserve protection, but it does drive me crazy. There's a time when you just have to turn the emotional tap off and use the brain instead--whether it's an IQ of 80 or 160, the issue is using the brain rather than fuzzy emotional reasoning. For that reason, I would say that no domestic abuse case should require reporting by the victim--anyone can report it, and the vic doesn't need to file the charge. If it's being done, get 'em away until they can get their heads straight.

All that said, whoever came up with the brilliant idea that whopping the wife around is only a misdemeanor needs to be whomped senseless himself.

[callie-chan.livejournal.com]

While I agree that women should know better, the fact is that even the stupidest woman alive who stays just because she honestly doesn't know any better should have protection against being beaten by anyone--especially a husband/boyfriend/whatever. As much protection as possible, preferably. And ditto for the instances of men being abused by women.

And, of course, intelligence or the lack thereof rarely has anything to do with a person's reasons for staying in an abusive relationship anyway, so the protection is even more important in those instances.

Is it that difficult that abusing someone for no good reason should be against some law somewhere? o_o This guy makes me wonder.

-Callisto

[fernwithy.livejournal.com]

Well, it is illegal; it's just a question of the category of illegality, and the technicalities of it. It definitely needs to be hit with heavy stick mentality rather than the kind of slap-on-the-wrist approach we're using now. If I had my druthers, child and spousal (or partner) abuse would have mandatory jail time. Serious jail time, like ten to twenty.

[callie-chan.livejournal.com]

Good point. But yeah, you get what I mean--it should be more illegal than it is now.

-Callisto

[fernwithy.livejournal.com]

Oh, hell yeah. No argument there. I'm a zero tolerance girl.

[delwyncole.livejournal.com]

I just can't believe that he spoke like that to a reporter. It was a phenomenally stupid thing to do. You never ever piss off the press. That said, I'm constantly amazed at the justifications people have for not treating Domestic violence like a serious crime. Regardless of what you believe the woman should have done in that situation, it is reprehensible not to severely punish the guy who continues to beat her (typically in an escalating pattern of violence). I really don't understand why it is ever a misdemeanor, but I do understand that for just about anything short of murder we have an escalating sentencing structure. I can live with that, but this one doesn't escalate, while you can be sure that the abuse is.

As for his assertion that there should never be a second offense. From a certain point of view I get that. I can't imagine ever sticking around after somebody who claimed to love me, hit me. I wouldn't do it. I also understand that I am pretty lucky. I've got good self-esteem, and truly believe I deserve better than that. I've yet to meet the person I was afraid of, and I've known some pretty violent people in my lifetime. And most of all, I grew up in an environment where hitting someone was never the solution to a problem. Every incident of my life tells me that hitting people is never okay. Many women in abusive relationships just don't have that kind of security. Often their self-esteem has been systematically destroyed before the physical abuse ever began, so that they are at a point in their life when not only do they truly believe this guy is the best they can get, but they believe they have to have a man because they aren't good enough to survive in the big bad world on their own. Many are afraid, not only for their own lives, but for the lives of their children or friends. Abusive men threaten, and many of them have no qualms about threatening the friend whose house you're staying at or your children. There's the added threat of just taking the kids, and it seems credible to many women, particularly women who have been shown just how unimportant domestic violence is to the courts. They may not have any job skills, no way to support children, and the guy will be telling them how they're an unfit mother and he'll prove it to the courts. And many people didn't grow up with the knowledge that hitting and more important being hit is never okay. Many women in abusive relationships had mothers who were in abusive relationships. They weren't taught that this was a bad thing they should get out of at all costs. They were taught this is the proper and appropriate way for men to treat their husbands. I can't emotionally understand women who stay, my brain isn't wired that way. I pray that I never can. But rationally, I get it.

[irishblessing.livejournal.com]

I posted that link yesterday - though I didn't phrase it as well as you did ;)

I'm still royally pissed off. The follow up was just.. RICH too. :|

[vivian-shaw.livejournal.com]

Christ in a sidecar, what an absolute waste of protoplasm that man is. I was particularly impressed with his tendency to jump on whatever his opponents said and chuck strawman fallacies around like they were going out of style.

[dragonwhishes.livejournal.com]

I have no words. I seriously have. No. Words.

[robyn-ma.livejournal.com]

Truly the man is a hat of ass.

[wer-bin-ich.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. Thanks so much for the link. What a dick. He has no idea what goes on in the minds of abused women. None. *is fuming*

[florahart]

Yes, fucktard. However, this is the best sentence ever:

A bill protecting cocks passed through the House Judiciary Committee.

...actually, one probably has; cocks are clearly more important than any area of the feminine body...

[astaria51.livejournal.com]

THAT'S IT! he probably read the bill and thought, "fighting cocks? GODDAMN, we can't have cocks fighting, something could get permanently injured."

[boozinjoebubala.livejournal.com]

y'all think yer pissed... I's lookin at a phelonie convikshion next time ah wanna fight my cock.

[tinhutlady.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this - I didn't see it. What a moron.

His views seem...ironic, considering one of the first child abuse cases in America was actually tried under a law prohibiting animal cruelty.

[smashsc.livejournal.com]

paynbow alerted me to the fact that you posted this too. Thank you. the SC liberal mafia is hard at work is trying to get it on the national radar so it is good to see it posted around.

Thanks