Kirsten Gillibrand, husband Jonathan, and son Theodore, in Hudson, New York.
(Christmas, 2006.) photo Gillibrand for Congress
Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand Trashed At Christmas
For Being Pregnant
First term Congresswoman Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY20), in a highly-vulnerable district in New York's Hudson Valley, is being attacked, not for her politics, not for her stand against the Iraq war, not for the earmarks she's bringing home including money for rural broadband development.
Nope...
She's being attacked because she and her husband have conceived a child.
The Glenn Falls Post Star (Letters to the Editor)Dear Ron,
There are many occupations suitable for women and their physical attributes. Carrying a weapon while serving in the Armed Forces and firefighting are not suitable lines of work for women to prove that they are physically equal to men. How many male police officers feel comfortable with a 100 pound female backup?
And now, I have to add serving in the U.S. House and Senate as an occupation that may not be suitable for women.
Ms. Gillibrand's current pregnancy makes a strong case for my opinion. Ms. Gillibrand was elected to serve her constituency, and while she is away from her elected office she cannot perform those duties. The taxpayers who were duped into voting for her will have to pay for her medical benefits. Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer, Ms. Gillibrand receives excellent health benefits, courtesy of her constituents. We will be without representation in Congress for a time leading up to and following the child's birth. There will be times when she and the new baby will visit doctors. You can add those days to the total that she will not be serving her constituents.
The current base salary (2006) for members of the House and Senate is $165,200 per year. I wonder if Ms. Gillibrand will do the right thing and reimburse the U.S. Treasury in the amount of $452.60, her daily salary, for each day that she is unable to perform her elected duties. For some reason, I doubt it.
RON BLACHUT
Queensbury
You make some excellent points.
There is so much richness and depth to what you have to say, I hardly know where to begin. Although I should mention, as a retired paramedic, your uninformed opinion of women firefighters and cops, turns out not to be connected in any way with the reality of the job. So there's that.
None of the women officers or firefighters I know -- hundreds -- were on the job for women to prove that they are physically equal to men. Sure, there are physical requirements for being accepted to the Academy, and for graduating; either you passed them or you didn't get on. Whatever.
Beyond that, no real woman would be stupid enough to try and compete with a man on pure physical power. That's a man's argument. *laughs* Women don't fight battles they're not likely to win. That's why they're much better on the street, in fires, and as officers, then men. They know how to pick their battles and don't commit themselves (and everyone else) to unwinable fights (and wars.)
While at least you are polite enough to use the word Ms., the correct honorific here is Congresswoman.
Tisk-tisk, Ron. Didn't your mother teach you manners?
Moving on.
As near as I can figure -- and it's tricky, figuring out your personal code of sexual and ethical conduct -- you believe no woman should ever get pregnant who works for you, but if she does, she should certainly not receive any paid time off for her pregnancy because having a baby is a personal act of defiance against you and the commitments she made personally to you when she took the job.
Hmmm. How do you feel about birth control? Or abortion? I'm just asking.
Would it be okay for a woman working for you to practice birth control?
What about the rhythm method? I mean, that's all natural, right... Does she have to be a broodmare? Or does working for you come first?
Now if her birth control fails (or you don't allow it), can she have an abortion in order to keep working for you, ya big stud? 'Cause all women want to work for you. (No, it's true. There was a poll.)
Or is her only alternative to go home to the kitchen where her husband can -- thank the sacred ovaries of Penélopê the Congresswoman is married and not a slut like that Jamie Lynn -- well, not take care of her, but at least sit in the living room and snap his fingers for a beer while he watches the bowl games. It's not as if she's in the third trimester yet and all chubby.
Anyway... who the hell would want to see her on CNN all plump and glowing anyway; she'd need a new wardrobe every few weeks. Clearly, you're simply doing her a favor. If she wasn't so hormonal, she'd probably appreciate it more.
Finally, Ms. Gillibrand was elected to serve her constituency, and while she is away from her elected office she cannot perform those duties. The taxpayers who were duped into voting for her will have to pay for her medical benefits.
Yep, you betcha slugger. Her staff of lesbians and California airy-fairy new-agers is no doubt incompetent (having been hired by a woman) and everyone know having a child renders a woman unable to speak intelligently for weeks to months on end (if indeed, a woman with a Bachelors Degree in Asian Studies from Dartmouth and a Juris Doctorate from UCLA could ever speak intelligently to a polymath such as yourself.)
What with the hormonal changes of childhood leaving her incapacitated for close to a year -- half of the term she was elected to serve you personally -- we can only be thankful that when she isn't pregnant or post-partum, Congresswoman Gillibrand only has light-flow periods and doesn't use maxi-tampons like some Congresswomen I could name who are -- between you and I, brother -- utterly fucking useless three to four days each month.
Well Ron, you've certainly proved your point.
Here at the Group News Blog Editorial Desk we are thankful to you for having chosen the sacred Christmas season as your special moment to go off on a woman with child (and her husband) in a small village in the Hudson Valley. You bring credit to all of New York's 20th Congressional District.
And when we set up the nativity scene, we know where to go to find an ass.
Take care, and Merry Christmas.
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