by Linda Grist Cunningham | Nov 8, 2011 |
Since when does this become “horsing around”?
“As the graduate student entered the locker room doors, he was surprised to find the lights and showers on. He then heard rhythmic, slapping sounds. He believed those to be sounds of sexual activity. … he looked into the shower. He saw a naked boy, Victim 2, whose age he estimated to be ten years old, with his hands up against the wall, being subjected to anal intercourse by a naked (former Penn State defensive coach Jerry) Sandusky.”
If that image, that SOUND, doesn’t make your stomach wretch, there’s something wrong with you. And, that’s just a snip-it from the 23- page grand jury report that’s going to bring down a football dynastic legend, a university president and one of the country’s few relatively blemish-free university campuses.
All because those in charge, the ones with the power, decided a naked adult raping a 10-year-old was just a case of “horsing around.” Horsing around. Just like Herman Cain’s “fooling around; Herman being Herman.” Boys will be boys, and all that.
None of this is about sex. It’s about power. Pure, unadulterated, angry, controlling power. And, because women and children as a rule have so little power, they’re wonderfully convenient targets for those who live out their power fantasies by suggesting a little oral sex in turn for an upgraded room and a job recommendation and a bit of anal sex in the locker room showers.
Power.
I’ve listened broken-hearted to dozens of women over the years who have run flat up against that wall of power in the workplace. Men who think nothing of suggesting a drink, dinner and a “date,” as a prelude to a job interview. Any woman ever offered the three Ds knows what kind of a date that would be.
Then, there are the ones who cower in the corner at work, terrified that a boyfriend or husband will stalk through the door or wait in the parking lot, despite the restraining order.
Power.
We’ve allowed ourselves to be convinced that boys will be boys, that as long as “nothing happened” it’s OK and we shouldn’t get all ruffled and upset. We’re perilously close to believing that a naked adult sodomizing a 10-year-old is just “horsing around.”
Before you start finding ways to make this all about my liberal, feminist soapbox rhetoric, scroll up and re-read that second paragraph. Can you HEAR THAT SOUND?
by Linda Grist Cunningham | Nov 4, 2011 |
Friday Five: Odds and ends from the week’s world of news.
* That Super Committee that’s supposed to fix America’s fiscal house by Thanksgiving? Well, it’s not going to happen. Not because there are no solutions, but because its hardline Republican and Democratic members have no intention of collaborating. Raise taxes; cut expenses. That simple. A pox on them all.
* The Gang of Six, Simpson-Bowles and the Grand Bargain. That Super Committee doesn’t even have to do the work. They can copy off the kids sitting next to them. There are two perfectly good blueprints ready for the picking, and there’s always the Obama-Boehner Grand Bargain that could be resurrected. I’m OK with copying off the smart guys.
* Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. And, while I’m on my compromise and collaborate rant, might as well toss in this one. Obama wants an infrastructure jobs bill to build roads and bridges. The GOP opposition doesn’t want to fund construction with a tax on 345,000 millionaires. The result? No jobs.
* President Herman Cain? Oh, please. As goofy as Donald Trump or (can’t resist) Sarah Palin. Though I might prefer President Palin to either of those guys. I know Cain’s not going to be on the top of the GOP ticket. No way the party’s controllers, even the Tea peeps, are going to let that happen no matter what the polls say. Incumbent Obama would flatten the pizza guy and there’s no way the elephants will risk that. I’m practicing writing Hillary Clinton as my write-in candidate.
* And, because all that political news can make me crazy, let’s just end with Friday Four. No reason to ruin a perfectly beautiful fall day by obsessing over D.C. dumb clucks.
May God smile upon you and yours.
by Linda Grist Cunningham | Oct 28, 2011 |
Friday Five: If yours is a family inclined to Sunday dinner conversations, then you know there are a handful of subjects generally off the table: sex, religion, politics and money.
That leaves precious little about which to chat, except for the weather and your sibling’s awful spouse, that last one guaranteed to have someone leaving the room unpleasantly.
Inevitably one of those “no-no” topics slithers onto the table. Those are subjects about which everyone has an opinion — and about which most of us know little more than a couple headlines worth of facts.
This week has been bewildering for the economics-high-finance-challenged among us. In case you missed them, or just flat out didn’t bother since you were busy making your own ends meet, here’s this week’s Friday Five: lessons in economics.
All the better for that Sunday dinner.
* Capitalism good. Crony capitalism bad. Who knew?
* Bail out the Greeks? Sure. Italy? Not so much. I guess they like Greeks better than Italians. The seat-of-your-econ-chair agreement that was two-years give or take a couple months in the making appears to be an outline with not much in the way of details. Now the hard work begins.
* The U.S. economy grew more than all those ugly August and September “oh, lands, a double dip is inevitable” talking heads bloviated upon. I swear, if we could muzzle 24-7 “news” channels and talk radio, the world would be less stressful place and we might actually get some traction on getting things done. But, that would be unkind to the First Amendment, so tune out the cacophony.
* Are those Occupy Wall Street people “half naked, over-educated, children of the privileged, preening Socialists” or just regular Americans annoyed with what they perceive as “take from the poor and give to the rich” a sort of backwards Robin Hood thing? Probably both and more since few things — including economics and politics — are so either-or. Good to see the First Amendment flexing its muscles, too.
* And, then there’s 9-9-9 and similar plans from enthusiastic presidential candidates that start with “now, this won’t hurt a bit and we’ll be healthy, wealthy and wise to boot.” Sigh. Getting our fiscal house in order requires pain: raise revenue; cut expenses. Eat less; exercise more.
And, that comes from an original flat-tax kinda fan, folks. Steve Forbes and Bill Bradley, two New Jersey boys, did that song-and-dance back in the 1980s when I was editor at the Trenton (NJ) Times. I got to hear the original version.
And, there you have it. Economics and high finance lessons for the weekend dinner table or wherever your conversations lead you. May God smile upon you and yours.
