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You see, women are like the canary in the coal mine: What happens to them is an indicator of a larger political direction for the society.

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What's going to be the message back to them from the Afghan government and the international community? Will it be to demonstrate that women's rights and protections are valued in actions, in addition to the political statements already made condemning the execution?

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South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (R) doesn’t believe that rape and domestic abuse are matters of public health, which is why she vetoed nearly half a million dollars slated to go toward domestic violence and sexual assault prevention programs.

Haley defended the veto by claiming these kinds of prevention programs “distract from” the Department of Health’s mission to tend to matters of public health. Furthermore, Haley argued, rape victims represent only a “small portion” of South Carolinians who need assistance. “Each of these lines attempts to serve a portion of our population for which we extend our sympathy and encouragement, but nevertheless, it is only a small portion of South Carolina’s chronically ill or abused. Overall, these special add-on lines distract from the agency’s broader mission of protecting South Carolina’s public health.”

As ThinkProgress reports, Haley may want to re-think her reasoning. South Carolina ranks seventh in the country for the number of women killed by men, and has had a rate of sexual violence higher than the national average since 1982. If anything the state should be increasing resources to help get the epidemic of violence against women under control.

Haley’s veto would be shocking if it wasn’t to be expected by Republican governors. Rape and domestic violence prevention programs are hardly “distractions” to an agency designed to address matters of public health, unless of course you don’t believe that rape and domestic violence are matters of public concern. It’s patently obvious that is exactly what Republicans think.

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Originally posted by canttakesky:
I think Frem would say KIDS are the real canaries in the coalmine.

It is about how we treat our weakest and most vulnerable citizens: kids, elderly, disabled, prisoners, and yes, women too. But women, really, are the least vulnerable of all of these. They have enough of a voice to put up a decent political fight. The others? Not so much.

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I like to quote fictional characters.
They get some of the best lines.

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Originally posted by Oonjerah:

"The measure of a civilization is how it treats its weakest members." ~Anon

Our society must make it right and possible for old people not to fear
the young or be deserted by them, for the test of a civilization is
the way that it cares for its helpless members.~Pearl S. Buck
(1892-1973), My Several Worlds [1954].

The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.
~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization.
~Samuel Johnson, Boswell: Life of Johnson

The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free
is the amount of security enjoyed by minorities.~John E. E. Dalberg,
Lord Acton, The History of Freedom in Antiquity, [1877].

"...the moral test of government is how that government treats those who
are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of
life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the
needy and the handicapped. " ~ Last Speech of Hubert H. Humphrey


"A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members."
~ Mahatma Ghandi

"Any society, any nation, is judged on the basis of how it treats its
weakest members -- the last, the least, the littlest."
~Cardinal Roger Mahony, In a 1998 letter, Creating a Culture of Life

The greatness of America is in how it treats its weakest members: the
elderly, the infirm, the handicapped, the underprivileged, the unborn.
~Bill Federer

"A society will be judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members
and among the most vulnerable are surely the unborn and the dying,"
~Pope John Paul II

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