13 I The Blue Banner I 2.9.2011
Republicans insensitive to rape survivors
Chris Fish
cafish@unca.edu
Staff Writer
Do you remember when
just saying “no” was
enough to qualify as rape?
Well, it’s time to wake
up and get with the 21st
I century, folks. Just saying
“no” is so 2010, and, ac
cording to Republicans, it’s really uncool
to get pregnant because you were drugged
and raped.
Recently, Republicans tried to pass the
controversial “No Taxpayer Funding for
Abortion Act,” a bill described as the
number one priority of the GOR Unfor
tunately, the title “We Hate Paying for
Abortions, Y’all” was shot down by the
Republican Bill Naming Committee, also
known as RBNC for short.
The government has always had its
limits on what qualified for an abortion
to receive federal assistance. Funding
exemptions have always included rape,
incest, and pregnancies that threaten the
mother’s safety, but a provision in the new
bill would only cover rape that was forced.
This would mean a woman who was
drugged and raped would not be funded.
As for the incest exception, the bill would
only allow federally-funded abortions if
the woman is under 18.
“When I first heard about the bill, I did
not think it was real,” Leanne Watkins,
a UNC Asheville student, said. “I then
heard more about it, and I was amazed
that something like this would even be
proposed.”
The provision was removed this past
"When I First Heard about
the bill, I did not think it
was real. I then heard more
about it, and I was amazed
that something like this
would even be proposed."
Leanne Watkins
UNC Asheville student
Thursday due to public scrutiny, but I can
only imagine exactly what House Speaker
John Boehner and all of the mostly
Republican 173 sponsors of the bill were
thinking.
It’s almost like they were trying to be
bouncers at a night club. They stand at the
door, and they gradually turn away people
who were not raped well enough, and, just
like that, they have complete control over
how an already terrible situation will play
out.
To say they would not cover a preg
nancy resulted from a drugging and a
rape is like saying it’s the female’s fault
for putting herself in the situation, or she
should have immunity to flunitrazepam
at this point, or she is probably a hippy
liberal-stoner anyway, and she most likely
just doesn’t remember agreeing to the sex
in the first place.
We all know how these crazy college
kids pop date rape drugs like they’re
candy anytime they can get their hands on
them.
But how is a woman supposed to know
just how dangerous men can actually be?
Not helping them in their time of need
would be the equivalent of a cop refusing
to help a person with an intruder in their
home just because they have a nice house,
and it would be crazy to think you would
not get robbed in something as extrava
gant as that.
See ladies, it’s apparently your fault for
always looking so damn seductive.
So, this bill will now go to the Hall of
Fame of Great Ideas That Certain People
Thought Were Good but tbe Majority of
the Public Strongly and Rightly Disagreed
with This Assumption. It will long be
forgotten with other inductees such as
Egg Push Pops, Fox’s broadcast of “The
Tick,” George W. Bush, the DeLorean and
“Battlefield Earth.”
“It’s no surprise that it came from the
GOP side,” Drew Glover, a UNCA
student, said. “For Republicans who
constantly criticize the president if he so
much as mentions something that is off-
topic from the matter at hand, it makes it
even more ridiculous. I hate generalizing,
but it’s just what’s common.”
Touche to the Republican Party and all
they have done.
You have made this country and your
party proud with your out-of-the-box
thinking about ways to make yourselves
seem even more inhumane.
Seriously, you guys are the Kanye West
of politics. Let’s hope they continue with
more of these landmark ideas, and they fi
nally find a place to park their Death Star.
Joe’s Parking Garage is tired of them
never paying their parking tickets.
Religion must evolve as divorce increases
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Alicia Adcox
aradcox@unca.edu
Asst. Campus Voice Editor
In a world that is
always changing and
moving, religion might
be standing still.
A church in Tennessee
recently made the news
when its pastor refused
to baptize a baby, unless the parents got
tnarried. According to a news release by
the Centers for Disease Control and Pre
vention, 4 in 10 births in the United States
in 2007 were to unmarried mothers. The
U.S. is not alone. The same press release
also said the high percentage of births to
unmarried mothers in the U.S. fell in the
middle range compared to several other
countries.
Less than half a century ago, birth to
an unmarried woman would have been
frowned upon in society. Today, it is almost
normal. Religious leaders would have to
turndown 40 percent of the children in the
U.S. if they refused to baptize or christen
any babies bron to unwed parents.
The tension between religion and society
extends past unmarried parents. Religious
traditions condemn divorce as well.
“(My mom) was married once before she
married my dad and, when you’re Catho
lic, if you get divorced you have to go
through a process to get it annulled by the
church. For my mom it didn’t really count
since she wasn’t married in the church,”
said Ashley Junk, a junior at UNC
Asheville. “If she had been married in the
Cuts
threaten
quality
Andy Sherman
church and then not had her first marriage
annulled, the church wouldn’t recognize
her marriage now.”
An annulment by the Catholic Church
requires a church tribunal, similar to a
judicial court, to decide if the marriage
was valid or not. If the annulment is not
granted, they are not able to marry again in
the church.
Today divorce is an easy fix to marital
problems. It’s not often that people honest
ly try to work through their issues. Instead,
they divorce and try again. According to
the CDC, half of all marriages in the U.S.
end in divorce.
As popular as divorce is, it is difficult to
imagine many people would go through
the process of having a marriage ended
See RELIGION on page 14
owshermo@unca.edu
Staff Writer
If only money
grew on trees.
With recent
news from the
UNC Asheville
administration
that a 10 percent
budget cut for
the 2011-2012 school year will
be inadequate, 29 staff posi
tions were eliminated last week
in order to prepare for a further
incision of about 5 percent from
the budget.
On Dec. 17, Governor Bev
Purdue sent a memorandum to
all state depaiJments estimating
a $3.5 billion deficit as the state
of North Carolina enters the
next two years.
“Because we have already
absorbed deep and permanent
cuts in recent years, these new
budget decisions have inevi
tably affected people’s jobs, a
move we were hoping to avoid,”
wrote Chancellor Anne Pon
der in an e-mail to the UNCA
campus community.
According to the email, there
will likely be an increase in
class sizes, and a decrease in the
frequency of some courses of
fered, which may stall students’
efforts to graduate in their
planned timeframe.
“If UNCA prevents its stu
dents from graduating on time
there may be larger repercus
sions than just financial ones,”
SGA Sophomore Senator
Keller Berry said.
Berry is a psychology student,
with a double minor in biology
and neuroscience, and finds
it difficult enough to register
for classes. If classes are taken
away it will only be harder.
According to Kiplinger’s
2010-2011 rankings of public
colleges, UNCA ranks 58th be
cause of its affordability, small
student-to-faculty ratio and high
graduation rate. All of these
See BUDGET on page 14