The He Man Woman Haters Club

It would be in my personal best interest to never, ever meet John Boehner in person.  He would most certainly get the short end of the stick were that meeting to ever take place.   The man (and I use that term loosely), is an affront to woman kind, and an affront to the real men in this country.

Let's face it.  Women and men are different and that is just a fact of biology and nature. We see things differently, approach problems sometimes from a different point of view.  We're wired differently than our male counterparts.  That does not make us inferior.  Men who are intelligent embrace our gender differences and treat women with the same respect as men.  Women are equally qualified to do the same jobs as men.  

Speaker of the House, John Boehner is not one of these men.  The most important  qualifications for a leadership role in the House are white skin and a penis.  It makes me wonder what they put in the water in the 8th district in Ohio to make those people vote for this knuckle dragging neanderthal.  His overt misogyny is pathetic and his racism is becoming increasingly flagrant.  

In the 113th House of Representatives, the average age of the newly appointed Committee Chairs is 58, and the Chair of every single committee is a white male--save for one.  Rep. Candice Miller (R-MI) has been generously named Chair of the House Administration Committee.  The Chair for the Ethics committee is yet to be named. My money is on another old white guy.  Appointing Miller to a Committee that she's never even served on--the committee that deals with such issues as what kind of tray to use in the House Cafeteria is insulting and Boehner's way of throwing the "bitches" in the House a bone.  

Yet, let us play devil's advocate.  In the interest of fairness, let us, for a moment, give Speaker Boehner the benefit of the doubt.  Let us assume that he selected the most qualified member for each Committee, regardless of gender or race.  Let's take a look at his Chairmen.

• Rep. John Klein, Chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee, has a record of distinguished military service to our country as a 25 year veteran of the US Marine Corps.  He has no known background in either education or workforce development.  He has, however, flown Air Force One.

• Rep Howard "Buck" McKeon, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, has a B.S. degree in animal husbandry.  He owned a small western clothing store until it went bankrupt in 1999.  He also served as Chairman of a small, regional bank.  He has not, however, served in the Armed Forces. Why would that be beneficial?

• Rep. Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs took seven years to earn his Bachelors degree in finance and took at least one student deferment to avoid serving his country in Vietnam.  Afterward, he settled into life as a business owner and as a corporate tax manager for a cement company.

• Rep. Bob Goodlatte, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, despite winning "Best Surname in Congress" (who doesn't love a good latte?) and despite being a lawyer and then an aide to a Congressman, spent a significant part of his time in Congress as the Chair of the Full Committee before serving as the Chair of the Agriculture Committee.  He's responsible for such bills as, NAIS (national animal identification system) which would have required all farmers to register with the federal government and participate in RFID tagging for every animal with near real time reporting to the USDA.  He's also an original sponsor of SOPA and a co-sponsor of H.R. 1503, a bill requiring Presidential candidates to provide proof of citizenship by submitting copies of their birth certificate.  Donald Trump tried to co-sponsor the legislation and was dismayed to find he had to first be elected to Congress.

• Rep. Darrell Issa, the returning Chair of Oversight and Government Reform has been accused of filling his staff with people who had connections with industries that could benefit from his investigations.  He's also been accused of using his office for personal gain.  In the past, he's been arrested on weapons charges and auto theft, and suspicion of arson and intimidation with a gun.  Great choice there.  Something about foxes and hen houses comes to mind...

The list of unqualified appointments goes on and on.  It's a clear example of the "you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours." way that Congress does business.  This isn't just about appointing women for the sake of diversity.  It's a question of appointing the best qualified person for the job and often that person is a woman or a minority.  It is obvious that Boehner is sending a message to the country that the 113th Congress is a boys club--his own personal "He Man Woman Haters Club."  They might let a person of color in someday--after all, John Boehner himself isn't white.  He's kind of a burnt orange color not found in nature.  

For a little more information on Darrell Issa, visit Media Matters