Passimodo was arguing on the House Floor about how students should wear pants that fit them properly. Evidently, her focus is not on jobs, but on how to dress your children. Her train of thought derailed at some point and she went off on a tangent about a little girl in rural Texas who had been gang-raped by some young men.
Here's what she said:
"There was an article about an 11 year old girl who was gangraped in Texas by 18 young men because she was dressed up like a 21-year-old prostitute. And her parents let her attend school like that. And I think it's incumbent upon us to create some areas where students can be safe in school and show up in proper attire so what happened in Texas doesn't happen to our students."
Ms. Passidomo couldn't be further off the chain with this one. First of all, she has exhibited absolutely NO COMPASSION for the young child who she is referring to. Secondly, she is just making stuff up.
What the New York Times report REALLY said about the child who was raped by at least 16 young men in rural Texas was:
Residents in the neighborhood where the abandoned trailer stands — known as the Quarters — said the victim had been visiting various friends there for months. They said she dressed older than her age, wearing makeup and fashions more appropriate to a woman in her 20s. She would hang out with teenage boys at a playground, some said.
But even the above quote from the NYT is disturbing in the sense that it does not quote a real person with a name. Therefore, the writer (James C. McKinley Jr.) should be ashamed of his lapse in journalistic integrity. Blaming a rape victim for his or her attire is NEVER appropriate and it's especially unforgiveable when it comes to young children.
We have enough problems scouting out those who rape children and putting them behind bars without Florida Republicans and the New York Times ganging up on the victim all over again.
Lastly, the hypocrisy must be noted... Kathleen Passidomo was elected to the Florida House with money and support from the Republican/Tea Party resurgance of 2010. One of the issues that she campaigned on was "Reducing Government Interference With Our Daily Lives and Business".
One of the ways she reduces this interference is to cut off unemployment benefits for those who are unable to find extra time to do volunteer work to earn the benefits they already paid into. The other way she reduces interference from the government, evidently, is to tell you how to dress your children lest they be dragged into a trailer in the middle of nowhere and gang-raped.
Stay Classy Kathleen!
Here is a photo of Kathleen Passidomo with former Florida Governor Claude Kirk at the "Women & Money Convention" at the University of Central Florida. Passidomo was just finished moderating a discussion called "Florida Women Mean Business!"Claude Kirk is another horribly insensitive Republican who once joked and smiled at deathrow inmates while on the campaign trail about maybe having to sign some of their death warrants and who looked at a photo of weeping and murdered students at Kent State and called them simply "communist dissidents".
Who is it that looks like a prostitute now, Kathleen?
Passidomo is a fool of a women who should be receiving psychiatric counseling, her lack of compassion and intellect makes her unfit for the human race, and tells us a lot about the lack of credibility in the Teaparty.
ReplyDeleteWe need to remember that these people have these positions because others agree with them. This means we have hard work to do in terms of educating people. This type of thinking is truly terrifying for our country.
ReplyDeleteMaybe all the rapist out there could target only the teaparty republicans for a while.
ReplyDeletesociopath...
ReplyDeleteOne of the best ways to determine where a person is coming from is to guage the extent to which they are too quick to blame the true victim for what has happened or is happening. Sirs and Mesdames on the right AND left, you WILL install a warning light of some kind in the intersection at the top of the hill when YOUR daughter dies there in an avoidable auto accident. That happened! In times past, God winked at our transgressions -- times have changed as the end gets closer. Be warned.
ReplyDeleteRape is about two things: dominance and access. Rapist target the young and old, family and stranger. They do it because they have the dominance and access. It's not about the freaking clothes.
ReplyDelete